On a Pale Horse
by djewellz
Summary: AU, Yullen/Lucky - Allen used to have a normal life. But now he has to deal with becoming the Grim Reaper, fighting off evil, keeping the balance of souls in check and living with a homicidal samurai look-a-like. Isn't life wonderful?
1. Chapter 1

**Rating: M  
Warnings: AU, some violence later on, future lemons, yaoi, language  
Pairings: Allen x Kanda, Tyki x Lavi  
****  
Hey everyone!!**

**So, I'm back with another story. This idea popped into my head and just wouldn't let go, so I decided to go ahead and do something about it. Don't worry, I'm not abandoning my other stories. This one is called On a Pale Horse, and it's loosely based off of Piers Anthony's Incarnations of Immortality series. If you haven't read it, I strongly recommend it. It's hilarious. It's obviously AU. ****I'm changing things up a bit though. The only part of that story that I'm really borrowing is the idea that major themes in life - death, nature, time, war, evil, good, fate - are governed by people called incarnations. And of course, those incarnations are now the DGM characters!! I'll explain things later throughout the story just so everything else makes more sense, since I'm putting my own twist on it. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters, obviously, or the idea of the incarnations. Not mine. Nope. ****  
**_

* * *

_

_"I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him." – Revelation, 6:8a (NIV Bible)_

_- - - - - - - - - - - - - -  
_

The great angel Tiedoll looked down at the young man lying peacefully on the ground, fast asleep. He was rather small for his age, but size often counted for nothing. He chuckled to himself. "Great things often come in small packages, don't they?" he asked his companion, half-turning his head to the side.

The lesser angel – not to mention Tiedoll's apprentice – Noise Marie couldn't help but smile. "Are you sure that he is truly the one?" he asked. "I don't doubt your intuition, but he does look rather…odd."

"Ah, but he fits the part," Tiedoll responded. "Do you see his left arm?" The arm in question, which was half-curled under the child's body, was black as pitch and smooth as glass. The fingernails were long and there was a strange cross-shaped marking upon the back.

"What a strange arm," Marie said. "I wonder what happened to him."

"It was probably a birth defect," the older angel replied. "I can't think of any accident that would do that to a human." He sighed. "It's a pity though, that he must be taken so young. He won't get a chance to live out his life to the fullest."

"Yes, but who ever said that life was fair?" Marie asked ironically.

Tiedoll chuckled. "It's not," he said quietly. "I wonder who will be the one to come and get him. I hope for his sake that it isn't Yu." He shook his head. "I have a feeling that would be disastrous."

"Hmph," Marie snorted, the edges of his mouth crinkling in amusement. "My guess would be Lavi. He seems to be the most extroverted of the three of them."

"I wonder how they will react when they learn that the fourth has finally arrived?" Tiedoll mused. "It has only been the three of them for so long now…what do you think?"

"…it is difficult to say," Marie responded, "especially with such capricious characters as incarnations." He shook his head.

"They're not so bad," Tiedoll disagreed in their defense.

"Well, some of them are easygoing enough," Marie allowed. "Chronos is not so bad. And neither is Fate. But Gaia is a handful; or rather…her brother is. And the others are more trouble than they're worth, all three of them."

"I wonder how this one will fit in…"

"Only time will tell."

"Indeed."

* * *

Kanda blearily opened an eye when he heard the doorbell ring. He sincerely hoped someone else planned on answering that because he certainly didn't. He let his eye slip closed and waited. Ah, yes, there were footsteps; they were light and quick. That must be the idiotic rabbit. The other bastard had slow, determined steps. He heard the door swing open, and then listened intently for the ensuing conversation.

"'Ey, Anita, what's up?" Lavi asked enthusiastically. "You ain't been over here in forever!"

There was a low chuckle. "I had no reason to visit you, Lavi," a low, sensuous voice answered.

"But you do now?"

"Of course," Anita responded. "Why else would I come here?" She paused for a moment. "Is anyone else here?"

"Eh, Tyki's out, but Yu-chan's here!" Lavi replied. Kanda braced himself for what he knew was sure to come. "YU-CHAN! Come 'ere, we got a guest!" He wrenched his eyes open, his face falling into its normal scowl. As he stood up, he reminded himself that he wasn't doing this for the rabbit. He was only doing it because Anita was here – and it was rude to refuse to see another incarnation, no matter how much you didn't like them. He slowly walked into the entryway, his arms crossed over his chest.

Standing there in all of her beauty was Anita, the incarnation of Fate. Dressed in a pink and purple kimono, she was flawless in her beauty. She inclined her head when she saw him. "Mars," she intoned, as was custom.

"Lachesis," he responded. "Or are you Clotho today?"

"Are you not able to tell us apart even after all these years?" she asked, rather petulantly. Her entire composition shifted then into the appearance of a very young woman who was even more stunning than Anita. Her hair was like spun gold and her eyes like polished gemstones. "_I _am Clotho." Her voice had changed to sound more youthful, and with a higher pitch. Her features shifted back again into Anita's face. "I will never be anyone but Lachesis."

Kanda rolled his eyes. "Whatever," he said. "It doesn't matter; you all do the same thing."

"Ours is not an easy task," Anita reminded him. "And it is much more difficult than your own duty." She snorted, but even that was an elegant noise. "All you do is wave your sword around and cause war."

"And all you do is meddle in peoples' lives," Kanda snapped.

"Guys, guys!" Lavi interrupted. He stepped between them, like the mediator he liked to think himself. "C'mon now, don't fight! You ain't seen each other in forever!"

"I try to avoid fools as much as possible," Anita agreed with a smile.

"And I avoid simpering old women," Kanda smirked.

"Old women?!" Anita asked, outraged. "I am not old!" Her features shifted once again to the figure of an old crone, with a hunched back and wrinkled features. "If you want old, look no further, sonny!" The third and final form of fate, Apropos, had finally revealed herself. Even after all these years, Kanda still found it rather disconcerting that all three of them shared one body. Anita was the main form, seeing as how she represented the middle-aged woman of Lachesis. But Apropos and Clotho were always there.

"So you admit that you're simpering?" Kanda asked.

"Oh, you," the old woman snapped, unable to conjure up a good response. Her features shifted again and Anita took the forefront, an expression of distaste on her face. "Enough with your stupid comments. I did have a reason to come here, you know. Believe it or not, I won't just drag myself over here to look at you lot for my own pleasure."

"Ah, you wound me, Anita!" Lavi cried, clutching an air-dagger to his chest.

"It's not you, Lavi," Anita said, smiling charmingly. "You're quite a nice young man. It's this idiot," she threw a glare towards Kanda, "and the other one that make this house an absolute hellhole."

"Oh, Tyki's not so bad once you get over the perverted stuff," Lavi said easily. "Can't say much for Yu-chan though." He wisely took a large step away from Kanda, who was itching for his sword. "So why did you come, Anita?"

"I actually have a message for you," she announced. "I discovered it this morning while I was observing my tapestry." Kanda couldn't believe she was actually an incarnation – all she did was weave the threads of life all day long. How boring was that? He got to start wars and fight all day. Now _that _was just badass.

"Is it good or bad?" Lavi asked, intrigued.

"I would say good," Anita said. She paused for dramatic effect before continuing. "I have found him!"

"What?" Kanda asked flatly. That was impossible; it had to be. They had been searching for him for thousands of human years. There was no way that he had just randomly turned up somewhere now. "How the hell did you find him?" That was, _if _she had found him – he had his doubts.

"The thread that led to him was gold," Anita responded. "You know what that means. The angels have found and recognized him as the next incarnation. When I looked out upon his life though, I was most surprised."

"He went missing a long time ago," Lavi said carefully, "yet he still carried on his duties…when did he give up his power? Did he want to become a human?"

"I don't know," Anita said, shaking her head. "And I could not find an image of his successor. Some hidden force seemed to be protecting him. All I know is his location."

"Where is he then?" Lavi asked eagerly.

"London, England," Anita answered.

"No way!" Lavi cried out, a smile on his face. "I always wanted to go to London!" He turned to Kanda. "Alright, Yu-chan, you're going to London!" He held a hand up in the air for a high-five, some ridiculous human gesture he'd picked up on when he'd gone down for a visit in the human decade of the 1960's.

Kanda flat ignored him, blatantly looking the other direct. "What do you mean, me?" he asked. "I'm not going anywhere."

"Aw, but you have to!" Lavi whined. "I can't go!"

"Why not?" Kanda demanded.

"You aren't going to go?" Anita asked. "Why? Are you afraid some human will get the better of you?"

He scowled at her. "Tch, only in your dreams," he sneered. "Why the fuck should I go to Earth, the most disgusting place in this universe next to hell itself? I don't have time to go picking up brats and teaching them how to do their job!"

"Well, you're gonna have to," Lavi said sheepishly. Kanda turned to look at him sharply. "You see…I'm kinda, sorta already late to a meeting I have with the Mexican Highlands. And I can't just go shirking my duties!" He frowned speculatively then. "I still don't know why I had to be Pestilence though."

"Because you're a damn pest," Kanda muttered. "Get the bastard to go." He hated saying Tyki's name. He hated Tyki. Everything about the tall, smirking man just put him off. The worst part of it was that Tyki seemed to like Kanda to the point that he thought they were friends. He had to force himself not to shudder when he thought about it.

"Eh, no can do," Lavi said cautiously. "Tyki-pon's gotta come with me! You know we work hand in hand."

Kanda could think of a better analogy, but he let it slip this time. He couldn't believe he had to go and fetch some fucking kid! He hated going to Earth. He hadn't been down there since the feudal era of Japan, and even then, he had only visited Japan. That was the only place on Earth that he could even remotely relate to. "You had better fucking hope that Mexico is fucking dead by the time I get back, or I will personally slice you up into tiny pieces and nail them onto the wall outside this castle."

He stalked outside his castle and started walking down the stone pathway to the gate. "Wait, Kanda!" Anita called out from behind him. He stopped, but didn't turn around. "You need to know his name!"

"What the fuck is it?" he demanded crossly.

"Allen Walker!"

"Tch," Kanda grunted, walking forwards again. When he reached the gate, he kicked it open angrily. Looking down, he jumped off the cloud that his castle seemed to be floating on – though it really wasn't; the land of incarnations was full of clouds since Gaia liked them – to fall headfirst down towards Earth. His hair whipped out behind him like a curtain.

Since he was an incarnation, and not human, he didn't have to worry about injuring himself. He was immune to their diseases, old age did not affect him, and he was easily five times stronger than them. In short, until the end times came and the world was destroyed, he was basically immortal. After that…none of the incarnations was exactly sure what would happen to their kind. They weren't human, and so could not be sent to heaven or hell. Yet if one of their kind wished to become human, all he had to do was pass their powers on to a human.

He snorted. Such philosophical thoughts were way too shitty this early in the morning.

* * *

Allen Walker woke up with a jolt. He sat up and looked around wildly. It was only then that he registered the rain pelting down from the sky. The noise that had awoken him had been a rather large clap of thunder. He tried to remember why he was sleeping on the ground in the middle of a forest…but he couldn't come up with anything. His mind felt all fuzzy, as if he'd had too much to drink and then passed out. But he knew that wasn't the case; he avoided alcohol like the plague.

He tried to remember as much as he could about the day before. He had been…he had…been…taking a walk? No, that didn't sound right. And he wouldn't have just walked into a forest; he did know his limitations, and a bad sense of direction was one of those. Frowning, he crawled out from the middle of the clearing to sit under the branches of a leafy tree. At least there was some semblance of shelter. He wrapped his arms around his wet chest, hoping to keep some vestige of warm around him.

He remembered talking to someone. Yes, that was it. He had met a stranger who had wanted to know his way around London. He had just moved there. But he couldn't quite remember how they had gotten to this forest. It didn't really make sense to him.

Sighing, he looked up to the sky. It certainly didn't look like the storm was going to let up any time soon, and he wasn't even going to try and find his way out of this forest when the visibility was easily halved. Leaning against the solid tree trunk, he curled his knees up to his chest, resting his chin on his arms. He was beginning to get cold. He hoped that he didn't get hypothermia from this. He closed his eyes, hoping to fall asleep.

No sooner had he closed his eyes, however, and he found himself sprawled out on the ground face-first. He pushed himself up wildly, looking around to see who had kicked him. His eyes settled on a sour looking man with his arms crossed over his chest. "What was that for?!" he demanded, moving into a sitting position. He looked down at himself in disgust; he was now covered in mud and grime.

"Tch, you were about ready to fall asleep," the man grunted. His voice was rough, but not truly sadistic. His indigo hair was tied back in a long ponytail, leaving only bangs to hang down almost to his even darker blue eyes. He looked like he was wearing armor, only it was the lightest and most flexible armor Allen had ever seen. Of course, the only armor he had ever seen were the medieval suits of armor in museums in London.

"And what's wrong with that?" Allen asked crossly, brushing some of the twigs off his shirt. It didn't look hopeless. Perhaps he could take it to the dry cleaners and salvage it.

"I have to talk to you," the man said bluntly.

Allen looked up at him sharply. "Talk to me?" he repeated. "What for?" He surveyed the man again, just to make sure he'd never seen him anywhere. "I've never seen you before."

"No shit, Sherlock," the other grunted. He walked over to where Allen was sitting on the ground and pulled him up by the collar of his white shirt. Allen spluttered a bit and waved about frantically until he realized that the other was just setting him on his feet again. It was then that he noticed that man wasn't wet…at all…when it was raining outside. What on earth was going on, here?! The man let go of his shirt then and stepped back, still scowling at him.

"Who are you?" Allen asked quietly.

Those dark eyes flashed back to him. "The technical term would be Mars," he said in a surprisingly civil tone of voice. "But you'll just call me Kanda."

Allen raised an eyebrow at the other's arrogant words. "I'll call you whatever I want," he muttered. No sooner had he blinked than he found a sharp sword at the base of his throat. He hadn't even seen Kanda move.

"You will call me Kanda, Mars, or nothing at all," the other said icily. "Is that clear?"

"Crystal," Allen said quickly. A few tense seconds passed before Kanda finally removed the long sword from his throat and sheathed it. He couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief. "Why do you have a sword with you anyway? And why are you wearing armor? Are you going to a Renaissance fair or something?" He couldn't help but smirk a little as he asked that last question. He really couldn't see this man going to any kind of fair, but the image that appeared in his head was rather funny.

"Say that again, I dare you," Kanda snapped angrily. "Do I look like I'm fucking going to a Renaissance fair to you?" He didn't wait for an answer. "Like I said, I'm here to get you. So shut up and come along like a good little boy."

"I'm sorry, but I have no idea what you're talking about," Allen informed him blithely.

"Do I have to fucking explain everything to you?" Kanda snapped.

"Obviously, since I have no idea what's going on."

Kanda rolled his eyes. "I am the incarnation of war, also known as Mars," he said, sounding quite bored. "I oversee all the wars that go on in the world and make sure nothing gets too out of hand. You are the next incarnation of death. The old one passed his powers on to you to become a human. So come on. I don't have all day, you know."

Allen blinked once. Then again. Then… "What?"

Kanda rolled his eyes. "How much fucking clearer can I get? You're the new incarnation of death, the fucking Grim Reaper. And now, you have to come with me. So move your ass and follow me, for God's sake!"

"I'm sorry, but I really don't understand," Allen said slowly. "Maybe you have the wrong person."

"You're Allen Walker, right?" Kanda asked.

Allen blinked again. "Yes, that's me." How did this guy know his name?

"Then I've got the right person," Kanda said, turning around to walk over to the empty clearing. "Now get your fucking tattooed mug over here before I drag you."

"It's a scar," Allen mumbled.

"What is?" Kanda asked blankly. Having already reached the clearing, he turned around and stared at Allen. His eyes were bored, and annoyed.

"It's not a tattoo, it's a scar," Allen clarified, pointing to his face.

Kanda paused for a moment. "Whatever," he said finally. "Now come – on. I won't say it again."

"But where are we going?" Allen asked, finally starting to come forward. "You haven't explained anything! Why do I have to go away? I have a life here, you know!"

"Because you aren't mortal anymore," Kanda said, drawing his sword.

Allen chuckled nervously. "Are you on something?" he asked jokingly. "Of course I'm mor-" He stopped mid-sentence, staring down in complete shock at the sword now lodged in his chest, courtesy of Kanda. Strangely though, there was no pain. He opened his mouth to say something, but no words came out. How the hell did someone respond to something like that?! Instead, he just looked up at Kanda. The taller man just lifted an eyebrow at him, as if saying _I told you so _before slowly pulling the blade out of Allen's chest.

Allen immediately pulled his shirt open, to search for the mark that he knew had to be there. But…there was nothing. No blood. No scar. Not even a scratch mark. He looked up at Kanda, stunned. "How did you do that?"

Kanda rolled his eyes. "I didn't do anything to you," he said. "You aren't that special, brat. Like I said, you're immortal now. One of the perks of being an incarnation."

"So you're saying…that I'm now immortal…and am basically something like the Grim Reaper?" Allen said slowly, trying to process all this information. "And you're one too?"

"I'm not going to repeat myself."

Allen shook his head. This was just too much! "I'm sorry, but I have to start heading home now," he said, pushing past the other. Screw his bad sense of direction – this was like some bad nightmare, and he really wanted to wake up.

Kanda reached out and grabbed his wrist, yanking him back effortlessly. "You can't go back," he said flatly.

"And why not?" Allen asked indignantly, fighting unsuccessfully against Kanda's iron grip. Damn, but this man was strong!

"Until you learn how to control your new powers, you're a danger to all the humans," Kanda informed him blankly.

"Danger?" That caught Allen's attention. He ceased struggling, looking up at the other in confusion. "But…I don't want to hurt anyone."

"That's never the intent," Kanda replied. "But you're an incarnation now, and death is your specialty. You go back to London, you'll start a massacre. So don't try it. Don't even think about it. You think you have to go tell your family or something?"

"Family?" Allen asked. "Who said anything about family? I just wanted to go home. And get away from you," he muttered.

"I heard that, brat," Kanda sneered at him. "And guess what? You've just been evicted. Luckily for you, you've got a new home now." He pulled Allen closer to him then, so that he could wrap an arm around the smaller male's waist. Allen paled, not sure what was going on. He pushed against Kanda's chest, but the other was obviously too strong. He wasn't going anywhere.

Kanda held his sword out in front of him, the blade pointing up towards the sky. "Take me home, Mugen," he said quietly, staring up at the sword. Suddenly, Allen felt his stomach drop as the two of them shot up off the ground. He clenched his eyes shut, afraid of getting motion-sickness. He felt Kanda snort. Allen couldn't help but clutch on to Kanda as tightly as he could, afraid that if he let go, he would definitely die.

But it was over so quickly. He felt his legs hit solid ground and immediately crumbled to the ground, Kanda letting go of him to put his sword away. He clutched his arms around his chest, trying to regain his breath. As soon as he could speak again, he glared up at Kanda. "You could have at least warned me, you ass!" he snapped.

"Tch," Kanda grunted, rolling his eyes. "Does it matter? We're here now. Stop bitching."

"Here?" Allen repeated. "Where is here?" He looked around wildly.

"Where else?" Kanda asked lazily. "Welcome to Purgatory, kid."

* * *

**So, I know that that's a rather abrupt ending point, haha. But I had to end it there or the chapter would be doubled in size. And I think first chapters should be shorter chapters. But that's just my opinion. Oh also, this isn't meant to offend anyone religiously. It's completely fiction. I know everyone understands that, but I figured I'd go ahead and say it.  
**

**Don't forget to review!! I wanna know if I should continue this!!  
**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey everyone!!**

**I want to thank everyone for the response I got to this from last chapter. I really liked the idea of doing something like this and I'm happy to hear that other people want to read more too. So I'll do my best to live up to people's expectations. **

**Thanks again for the reviews!!

* * *

**

Allen pushed himself up off the ground, glaring at Kanda all the while. "Purgatory?" he asked.

"Yeah," Kanda snapped, "the place where us Incarnations live."

"I thought purgatory was for people who weren't good enough for heaven but not bad enough for hell," Allen said. "I didn't think the nutjobs lived here too."

"Nutjobs?" Kanda asked. He grabbed Allen by the arm; the white-haired boy winced in response. Kanda was _really _strong. It must've had something to do with him being the Incarnation of War. "Listen here, you punk - I am not a nutjob. You've seen shit with your own goddamn eyes! So don't act as if you're the only sane one here." Without giving Allen a chance to respond, Kanda yanked on him, half-dragging him towards a large, medieval castle.

"Let go of me!" Allen protested. He squirmed away from Kanda's bruising grip, but the other wasn't letting go. His protests fell on deaf ears as well. Kanda didn't even look his way. "Hey, I'm talking to you! Let me go!" He yanked his arm back as hard as he could, but that only made Kanda crush his arm even tighter.

"Would you knock it off?" Kanda asked, sounding quite irritated. "It's bad enough that I had to go get you without you acting like some retarded five year-old."

"Well, sorry to be such an inconvenience," Allen snapped. "It's not like I wanted you to get me!"

"It's not like I had a choice," Kanda retorted. They had reached the front gate of the large castle by now. The dark-haired man ripped the door open, throwing Allen inside before yanking the same door closed. Allen stumbled a bit, rubbing his arm a bit to try and make some of the pain go away. Kanda immediately walked out of the main entryway and into what appeared to be a comfortable sitting room. He didn't even look back to see if Allen was following him.

Allen looked around a bit. The main entryway was very plain, and sparsely decorated. Was this Kanda's home? He could easily see that being true. Somehow, he didn't get the impression that Kanda was one for fancy décor. There were three rooms branching off from the main one. The first was the sitting room that Kanda had disappeared into. The second led to a hallway containing a flight of stairs to the upper levels. The third looked to lead down another hallway.

With a sigh, he moved into the sitting room. Kanda was sitting in a chair, looking very bored. His dark blue eyes flickered over to Allen when the latter walked in the room. Allen paused for a moment and stared back before moving to take a seat on an old-fashioned sofa across from the man. He perched on the edge of the seat awkwardly, folding his hands into his lap. This room wasn't much better as far as decorations went; there were a few chairs as well as the sofa he was sitting on, a few bookcases scattered with books and a rug, but that was about it.

"Is this your house?" Allen asked quietly, looking around.

"It's a castle, not a house," Kanda said coldly. "And yes, I live here."

"Same difference," Allen muttered. He returned his gaze to the Incarnation of War then. "So why did you bring me here?"

Kanda rolled his eyes. "Do you not listen to anything?" he demanded. "I told you, I brought you here because you're the next Incarnation of Death. No one else was available to go get you, so I was coerced into doing it. Now I have to fucking explain your job to you."

"Well, I'm sorry that I'm making your life _so hard_," Allen said sarcastically.

"You'd better be," Kanda muttered darkly. "Now, listen here, brat. There are five main Incarnations, excluding Good and Evil, the two obvious ones. They're Death, War, Fate, Nature and Time. There are also lesser Incarnations. Most of them work with me."

"Will I meet the others?" Allen asked. He really hoped that everyone in this place wasn't as much of a hard-ass as Kanda. Otherwise, life would really suck.

"Che, only if you're really unlucky," Kanda scoffed. "Now shut up and let me finish. Each Incarnation has a specific duty. You aren't allowed to interfere in another Incarnation's business, though sometimes we do favors for the others."

Allen raised his eyebrows. "You help the others?" he asked. "I certainly wouldn't have thought so."

"Shut the fuck up!" Kanda snapped. "I'm trying to explain your fucking job here! Unless you wanna go straight to hell when you die, I suggest you let me finish before I bash your head in!" Luckily for Kanda, Allen actually believed that threat, and so was quiet. "I swear, all the idiots have to work with me." He shook his head. He stood up then and walked across the room, moving over to a bookcase. He picked up a small black box and handed it to Allen before sitting back down.

Allen stared at the box for a moment and looked back up at Kanda. The other was staring at him with an expectant expression on his face. Evidently the other saw his confusion, for Kanda rolled his eyes. "Open the goddamn box, moron," he said flatly. "Why else would I give you a box?"

"Probably to try and do something bad to me," Allen muttered under his breath. He tentatively reached out and flipped the catch on the box's lid before slowly pushing it open. He didn't really know what he'd been expecting, but when all he saw were two pieces of stone, he sighed in relief. The two stones were opposite halves of a circle. Once was white, and was so bright that it hurt to look at for very long. The other was black and seemed to darken the air around it. "What are these?" he asked, picking the two stones up. To his surprise, they were both light. They had appeared to be heavy.

"The Stones of Judgment," Kanda replied. "Since you're Death, you have to send the souls of humans who die to either Heaven or Hell. You do that using the Stones."

"What do I do with them?"

"I don't know," Kanda said defensively. "I'm not the Incarnation of Death. You'll figure it out."

"Well, that's reassuring," Allen said sarcastically. He put the two stones back into the box and closed the lid before moving the box out of his lap and beside him on the chair. Something Kanda had said had bothered him. He was supposed to ferry the souls of the dead onto the afterlife, huh? But…there were so many people in the world. People were dying every second! How could he possibly do all that every minute of every day?

"Um, Kanda," he said quietly, trying to not get on the other's nerves.

"What?" the other snapped irritably.

Well, so much for that attempt. "How am I possibly supposed to help every single soul in the world move on to the afterlife? There are billions of people out there and hundreds die every moment."

"So the idiot does have a brain," Kanda said mockingly. He rolled his eyes. "Excellent observation, twit. You don't have to worry about the people who're clearly either good or bad. You have to go after the people who are in the middle."

Allen blinked. "In the middle?" he repeated blankly.

"People who do a majority of good deeds in their life go to Heaven," Kanda said slowly, as if he were trying to make a two-year-old understand him. Allen scowled at him when he realized what the other was doing. "People who do a majority of bad deeds in their life go to Hell. But since humans are absolute shitbags, most of them fall in between. You have to help the people who are almost equally good and bad move on."

"But how do I determine if they're more good or more bad?" Allen asked.

"The Stones."

"Oh," Allen said, looking down at the box beside him.

Kanda stood up again then and quickly walked out of the room. Allen stood there, unsure of what to do. Should he go after the other, or just wait here…? He didn't think Kanda would appreciate him walking around aimlessly in his house. But his problem was solved soon, as Kanda walked back into the room, clutching a long, tattered black cloak. He threw it at Allen without an explanation, making him sputter in indignation. "What was that for?" Allen demanded when he had gotten himself untangled.

"You'll need that," Kanda said, staring down at him coldly.

Allen looked down at the piece of clothing. He scrunched his nose up in distaste. He may have been poor, but come on – even he did better than this. It was practically a rag, and there were holes in it! "What do I possibly need this for?" he asked flatly.

"You're Death," Kanda reminded him. "You have to look intimidating. And right now, you're about as intimidating as a fucking poodle." Allen scowled at him. "Besides, that protects you from getting killed when you're working. But if you don't think you need it, by all means, don't wear it and get shot. Makes my life a hell of a lot better."

"Well, I wouldn't want to cause you unnecessary grief over my death," Allen said sweetly. "I suppose I'll wear it." Kanda glared at him. "Anything else I need for this job?" he asked nonchalantly.

"Unfortunately, yes," the Incarnation grunted. "Get up." Without waiting to see if Allen had listened to his instructions, he swirled around and left the room, the cape on his back fanning out behind him. Allen quickly stood up, taking the little black box and cloak with him - from what he'd seen of Kanda so far, he doubted the other would show him back to this room, and he truly had a horrible sense of direction.

They went through a series of hallways so vast and intertwined that Allen felt he was going to have to ask for a map. Either that, or he was going to have to learn how to teleport. And he wasn't sure that was in his job description (although it would be incredibly cool). After about five minutes, he was starting to think that even Kanda was lost. But just as he was about to open his mouth and speak this thought, they arrived in what appeared to be a stable. He frowned in confusion. What were they doing in a stable?

There were about five stalls on each side of the stable, but it didn't look as if all of them were in use. Hay littered the floor, and the room had that earthy horse smell that all barns seemed to have. Allen found it reassuring somehow, but that might've just been because the rest of Kanda's castle smelled like a rock. "Um, Kanda," he said quietly, "what are we doing in a stable? Do you have horses?"

"No, this is where I sleep," Kanda said, rolling his eyes. "What else goes in a stable, dumbass?" He shook his head. "It's not like you can just get wherever you want with a sword like Mugen, so you have to have a little help." He couldn't seem to say the last without smirking a bit. He pointed to a stall about half-way down the room on the right. Allen cautiously stepped forward, walking hesitantly towards the stall Kanda had pointed to. Preparing himself for the worst – though he didn't really know what he had to fear – he peered into the stall.

Inside the stall was a tall, thin horse. Well, thin was too generous a term. This horse looked almost skeletal, yet it still seemed to radiate life. Its coat was a pale, pale color. It wasn't really white, but he couldn't really place the exact color either. It was just…pale. And the funny thing was, the horse was just staring back at him expectantly with its huge, dark eyes. It whinnied softly, throwing its heads up a little, as if nodding at him. "Um, hi," he said, smiling nervously at the animal.

"Che, it's a horse, retard, it can't talk," Kanda snorted.

"Have you never heard of being polite?" Allen asked, raising an eyebrow at him. "Besides…it said hello to me first." He turned back to the horse and smiled softly. "Is this your horse then?"

"Do I look like I have to ride ponies to get around?" Kanda demanded. "It's not my horse. It's Mortis."

"…Mortis?" Allen asked, frowning.

Kanda stared at him like he was an idiot. "Are you fucking kidding me?" he asked. Allen just blinked at him, unsure of what the other man meant. Kanda sighed. "Why am I surrounded by idiots?" he asked the heavens. "Have you never heard the expression? It's human, after all." He continued at Allen's still quite blank look. "Death rides on a pale horse…?"

"Oh, that phrase?" Allen said, finally catching on.

Kanda rolled his eyes. "Yes, that fucking phrase," he ground out through clenched teeth. "Mortis is that horse. This is how you get from place to place. Lucky for you, he already knows exactly where to go, so you don't need directions." Allen stared at the other suspiciously; how did Kanda know about his complete lack of direction?

"Mortis, huh?" Allen said, returning his attention to the horse. "That's such an odd name."

"If you don't like it, don't call him that."

"But that's his name," Allen pointed out. "He wouldn't respond to anything else, would he?" He got the feeling that this horse was somehow much smarter than a normal horse, but come on – it was still an animal. It wasn't like it was Einstein or something.

"You can call it whatever you want," Kanda said slowly, enunciating each word with an icy precision. "Call it fucktard, dipshit, whatever the hell you want! It's a horse. It's got a brain the size of a walnut, for God's sake!"

"I don't think that's quite accurate, Kanda," Allen said, frowning at the older man.

"Oh, go to hell," Kanda spat, before turning around and walking out of the stables.

Allen sighed and returned his gaze to the horse standing in front of him. "Somehow, I don't think he and I are going to get along very well," he confided to the creature. Mortis seemed to nod at him again. "You wouldn't mind if I called you something else, would you?" The horse snorted; he took that as a no. "I think…I think I'll name you…Timcampy. That can be your nickname. Do you like that, boy?" He suddenly realized he how no idea whether this horse was a male or female. His smile lessened a bit. "You are a boy, aren't you?" The horse thrust its head out of the stall and into Allen's face affectionately, making the boy laugh.

"I don't know why Kanda thinks you're stupid," Allen said, petting the horse's neck. "You seem like a very intelligent horse to me." The horse whickered in agreement. Allen looked around then. He had no idea which way Kanda was, and nor did he know how to get back to the main hallway. This…was not good.

* * *

Kanda was currently sitting in the main room of his small castle. There was a fire on the hearth, burning brightly despite the fact that the air was perfectly comfortable already. He didn't feel bad for leaving that brat behind in the stable. Honestly, out of all the possible candidates for a new Incarnation, why did it have to be a fucking kid? And why, oh, why, did it have to be such an _annoying _kid?! Sometimes, he thought that he was truly cursed.

"Yu-chan, I'm home!"

He sighed. And now his already bad day had just gotten worse. Lavi strolled into the room, hand in hand with his lover, Tyki. The darker-skinned man was smiling at him indulgently, as if he were a small kid. Great – the two people he despised most in this world (although Allen Walker was fast earning himself a spot on the list) were now trying to have a conversation with him.

"Our mission was a complete success!" Lavi gushed excitedly. "We practically destroyed Mexico! It was so awesome, man!" Kanda glared at him for being overly loud. But apparently the red-head didn't get the hint, because he just went right on talking. "I have to say, I am totally rad at what I do!" He plucked the edges of his brown t-shirt as he said this, as if to show off his "awesomeness". Personally, Kanda would have called it mental retardation. "Hey, where's the newbie?"

Kanda didn't offer up any explanation.

"Aw, Yu-chan, you _did _go get him, right?" Lavi asked.

Kanda looked up at him, giving him a glare that could've made steel twist. Lavi backed up a step or two involuntarily, right into Tyki's chest. "I had to go get him," Kanda snapped angrily. "You were too busy with fucking Mexico. Or were you two just busy fucking each other?" His eyes narrowed. He wouldn't be surprised if the two had done something like that on the way. Honestly, the pair screwed like rabbits! It was disgusting.

"Oh, no, we never let business interfere with pleasure," Tyki said in his sultry voice, pulling Lavi closer to him and wrapping his arms around the red-head's stomach. "There's always a nice – equal – balance." He enunciated each word with precision, letting his breath wash over Lavi's ear, making the smaller man shiver. Kanda rolled his eyes in revulsion.

"Oh, get a room," he said heatedly.

"Heh, sorry, Yu-chan!" Lavi said, disentangling himself from his lover's arms. "Tyki's always so playful!" He stuck his tongue out at the other. "So, since you did go and get this Allen Walker guy…where is he?"

Kanda shrugged.

"You don't know?!" Lavi screeched. "Yu-chan! You're so mean to people!"

Navy blue eyes flashed. "It's not my job to babysit brats," he said coldly.

Lavi pouted at him. "But he's new here," he pointed out. "The least you could do is be civil to him for one day before you start traumatizing him."

"Ah, pet, but you forgot that Kanda has the social aptitude of a pastry," Tyki pointed out.

"Nah, more like a fish," Lavi disagreed. "Pastries at least look nice. Kanda just looks sour."

"I'm sitting right here, you know," Kanda reminded the two of them angrily.

"We know," they said in unison.

"So did you tell him what's going on?" Lavi pressed. "About the war and everything?"

"Che, I said it wasn't my job to babysit brats," he repeated.

"Yu-chan, you're so cruel!" Lavi said, putting his hands on his hips. "Can you at least tell me where you left him?"

"The stables," Kanda said flatly.

"Oh, were you showing him Mortis?" Tyki asked.

"No, I was showing him how to get lost in a haystack," Kanda said scathingly. "Why the fuck else would I show him the stables!?"

"I don't know," Tyki said, shrugging. "You have been known to do questionable things before."

"Like what?" Kanda demanded.

"Well, there was Vietnam…" Lavi said.

"Oh, shut up. Ho Chi Minh had it coming."

* * *

Allen closed the door to the stables behind him with a sigh. He had spent the better part of half an hour petting Timcampy, but now he really needed to find someone who could give him directions. He had never been good with going places, and now that he was apparently living in a castle, it wasn't any better. He turned right and started to walk down the hallway. When he reached another intersection, he paused and then turned right again. Hopefully he was going the right way.

For another ten minutes or so, he continued to traverse the empty hallways. But after he'd come back to the stable for the third time that day, he just sat down dejectedly and leaned against the wall. He knew Kanda wouldn't come and find him. The bastard didn't seem to care about anything. Maybe there were serving people in this castle. Surely one of them would find him eventually.

"Whatcha doin' down there?" a cheerful voice asked.

Allen looked up to see a young man with bright red hair staring down at him. He blinked. "Um…I'm lost?" he offered.

"Say…are you Allen Walker, by any chance?"

"Yes, that's me," Allen said. He pushed himself off the ground. When standing, the other man was still quite a bit taller than him. He was wearing normal clothes, unlike Kanda, Allen noted. In fact, apart from the eye patch over one of his eyes, he looked completely normal. He could've passed for any normal citizen walking along the streets of London. To Allen's surprise, as soon as he'd confirmed his identity, the stranger grabbed him, pulling him into a hug.

"You're the newbie!"

Allen pushed away from the other's chest, trying to breathe. But as soon as the hug had started – if you could really call it a hug – the other let him go. He staggered a bit, falling back against the wall. "Who are you?" he asked.

"Name's Lavi," the man said, sticking out a hand.

"And you're an Incarnation?" Allen asked, taking the hand. Lavi shook it so firmly that it made Allen's entire arm move. When he let go, he had to move his fingers around a bit to get the circulation flowing again.

"Yep!" Lavi bowed with a flourish. "Lavi's the name, Pestilence is my game!"

"Pestilence?" Allen asked. "I've never heard of that one."

"Eh, it's a lesser Incarnation," Lavi said, waving a hand dismissively. He slung an arm around Allen's shoulders. "I work with Yu-chan most of the time."

"Yu-chan?"

"Kanda," Lavi clarified. "His real name is Yu. But don't call him that unless you want to get physically maimed, rendered sterile or psychologically challenged for the rest of your life."

"Then why do you call him that?"

"Well, you see, Yu-chan's my best pal!" Lavi said with pride. "I'm the only one that gets the privilege to call him by his first name!" They began to walk down the hallway, Lavi leading him along. Thank God someone who knew their way around here had found him. "Maybe he'll let you call him that one day if you're lucky!"

"Maybe," Allen said noncommittally.

"So, you're Death, huh?" Lavi asked. He turned to stare down at Allen. "No offense meant, but you don't look like much."

Allen scowled. "Why does everyone insist on making cracks about my height? It's not my fault."

"Chillax, dude, I'm not making a crack about it," Lavi said. "Big things come in small package, eh?" With the tone of voice Lavi was using, Allen was sure that the other was making a sexual innuendo, but he chose not to say anything. "So, whatcha think of the castle?"

"It's big," Allen said flatly.

"You don't like it?" Lavi guessed.

"I'm going to need a map," Allen told him.

"Oh, don't worry, you don't live here," Lavi said.

"I don't?" Allen asked, surprised. "Then where do I live?"

"Course not, this is Kanda's place," Lavi said. "I live here because I'm a lesser Incarnation under him. You have your own place. It's just a little ways away from here. The only reason Mortis is here is because the old Death went missing a long time ago and never came back."

They had arrived back at the main room now. Kanda was sitting in an armchair by a table, his head propped up on one of his arms. His eyes flicked over to Allen when the two of them entered the room, but showed no emotion whatsoever. They quickly looked away. Lavi left him, prancing over to the other man in the room and sitting down on his lap. Allen slowly walked into the room, standing awkwardly a few feet away from the others.

"Are you fucking waiting for an invitation to sit down?" Kanda demanded. "Because you're not going to get one."

"Yeah, Allen, take a seat!" Lavi said, motioning to a chair on the other side of Kanda. Allen cautiously sat down, perching on the edge of the seat. He looked around. The man whose lap Lavi was currently occupying was staring at him with strange, hungry golden eyes. Lavi apparently saw his stare, for his began talking soon. "Oh, Allen, this is Tyki, the Incarnation of Famine."

"The pleasure's all mine," Tyki purred.

"Oh, quit being such a flirt," Lavi said.

"What, am I making you jealous?" Tyki asked, wrapping his long arms around Lavi's waist. Embarrassed, Allen looked away, a blush creeping onto his cheeks. It wasn't that it was disgusting or anything; he didn't care what people's sexual orientations were. It was just…well, he wasn't used to seeing two people so openly affectionate towards each other. He certainly had never been shown affection like that before.

"Just ignore it," a voice muttered from his side. "They'll quit in a minute or two."

Wondering what Kanda was referring to quitting, Allen looked up to see Tyki and Lavi making out on their chair. He winced quietly and looked away. Kanda shook his head, smirking. "I told you not to look," he said matter-of-factly.

"You said to ignore it," Allen corrected him.

"Same difference."

"Hardly."

"Oh, look, Tyki, they're already getting along so well!"

Both Kanda and Allen looked up when Lavi said that. He looked absolutely thrilled, and was once again sitting face-forward in Kanda's lap. He had a goofy smile on his face. "I think they're going to be great friends!" he confided to his lover. "Perhaps they'll even get to be more than friends, if you know what I mean." He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

Allen flushed. Kanda just scoffed. "I don't know about the Moyashi here, but I'm not gay," he snapped.

"Moyashi?" Allen repeated, confused. "And I'm not gay!"

"Che, you look about as straight as a circle to me," Kanda said, rolling his eyes.

"Speak for yourself, Mr. I-Have-Hair-Down-Past-My-Ass," Allen snorted.

"What was that?" Kanda asked dangerously.

"You heard me," Allen said.

"Oh, quit fighting!" Lavi said. "We have things to talk about here!"

"Like what?" Kanda demanded. "It would only take me a minute to beat his ass."

"You didn't tell him about the war, Yu-chan!"

"War?" Allen asked. "What war?"

Tyki chuckled. "The lamb doesn't even know what happens at the moment of its sacrifice," he said cryptically.

"What?" Allen asked, confused.

Lavi sighed and turned to look at him. "Tell me, Allen, what do you know about the Millenium Earl?"

* * *

**So yes, that's chapter two. This is really just a part that explains most of Allen's new job. You get to actually see his reactions to said job in the next chapter. Sorry for any spelling/grammer mistakes. I didn't really look over this one too much before posting it since I'm supposed to be working on a History project that's due tomorrow. Isn't procrastination a wonderful thing?**

**Don't forget to review :3 !!  
**


	3. Chapter 3

**Ah!! I'm so sorry it's taken so long to get this chapter out!!**

**It's still rather short, and I don't like that, but I figured I should at least give you guys SOMETHING to let you know I haven't died. To be honest, I kind of lost my train of thought as to what I wanted to do with this story there for a while. But I pushed through, and now we're back on track :D So we're good again now. Since it's summer, updates will be more frequent too. So happily that makes up for the like...almost two month absence? I hope so, haha.**

**Thanks again for the reviews/faves/alerts!!

* * *

**

Allen blinked. "The Millennium Earl?" he repeated. Lavi nodded solemnly. "I…I've never heard of him."

"Che, of course you haven't," Kanda scoffed. He was looking off in a different direction, his arms crossed over his chest. "Up until about an hour ago, you had no clue any of this existed." He turned to glare at Lavi. "How stupid are you, fucktard?"

"Eh, you never know," Lavi said, shrugging. "He coulda heard about him in some weird shop!"

Allen raised an eyebrow. "Are you suggesting that I spend my time in weird shops for the occult browsing over potion ingredients and spell books?" he asked. "You know, just because I come from England doesn't mean that I believe in Harry Potter."

"Who's Harry Potter?" Tyki asked, frowning. "What a painfully dull name."

"It's a children's book," Allen explained. "Well, really, there are a lot of adults who read it too. But it's about magic and wizards and witches. That kind of thing."

"How exciting!" Lavi proclaimed. "Is it real?"

"Of course not," Allen said, snorting. "Honestly, Lavi, do you really believe in magic?"

"Who doesn't?" Lavi asked in return. Allen only blinked at him. "You don't?"

"Well…I don't believe in magic wands and all that hocus pocus stuff," Allen said, looking down at his lap. "But…you guys are kind of like wizards, I suppose."

A noise that sounded somewhat like an elephant choking sounded from his left. He looked over to see Kanda turning a dangerous shade of puce. "Wizards?" the Incarnation of War demanded. "Do I look like Merlin to you?"

"Who's Merlin?" Tyki asked.

"A stereotypical wizard," Lavi piped up. "Though technically he was a Druid in the Arthurian period and actually had nothing to do with magic. But most people don't know that and just associate him with the tale of the Sword and Stone –"

"How the fuck do you know that?" Kanda demanded.

"I learned about it in Mexico!" Lavi proclaimed happily.

"How did you learn about an English legend in Mexico?" Allen asked curiously.

"Now, that, my friend, is a secret," Lavi said conspiratorially, winking at Allen. "Anyways, we're getting totally off-topic here! So, back to old Millennium. Actually, he's kind of like a wizard, Moyashi-chan!"

"Moyashi-_chan_?" Allen asked, getting even more confused now. "I still don't know what a moyashi is, but my name is Allen!" He paused for a moment before continuing. "And don't you think I'm a little too old to believe in evil wizards?"

"That's kind of like saying that you don't believe in yourself," Tyki pointed out deviously.

"I'm not a wizard," Allen said stubbornly, shaking his head. "And nor am I evil."

"But you're an Incarnation," Lavi said, "so you might as well be."

"That's different," Allen protested. "I don't cast spells. According to him -" he jerked his head in the direction of Kanda "- I just guide souls on to the afterlife and make sure that the balance of souls is kept, well…balanced."

Lavi stared at him for a moment and then burst out laughing. "Is that what he said?" he asked between bursts of laughter. Allen was beginning to have a bad feeling about this entire situation. After slapping his knees for a bit, Lavi sobered up and shook his head, smiling. "I guess that's _technically _what you do. But you're so much cooler than that! You're like, super fan-freaking-tastic!"

"Why?"

"_Why?" _Lavi repeated, dumbfounded. He shook his head. "Just go play around with Mortis for a while. Then tell me that you're not a wizard. But ANYWAY, we're still getting off topic. So, the Millennium Earl is the Incarnation of Evil. He doesn't like us minor Incarnations and is always trying to set us up so that we're really helping him out."

"The Incarnation of Evil?" Allen asked. "Like the devil?"

"Kind of," Tyki interjected. "Though he's not the typical image of a devil. He's too fat."

"Oh, Tyki, don't be mean," Lavi scolded his lover. "You know some people can't help themselves."

"Che, don't preach what you don't practice," Kanda spat out.

"Aw, Yuu-chan, you're so mean to me!" Lavi said, pouting. "But yes, he's kind of like the devil. His main goal is to get the highest percentage of souls to come to hell. If he gets more souls than heaven contains, he'll become stronger than the Incarnation of Good."

"The Incarnation of Good?" Allen repeated. "Like God?"

Tyki and Lavi looked at each other before Lavi replied. "Well, we don't really know that," he said. "There has to be an Incarnation of Good because there's one of Evil. If there wasn't one of Good, then Evil would be ruling right now. But no one's ever seen the guy. He doesn't interfere in our work like the Earl does. He stays out of the picture. But I mean he's Goodness – he plays by the rules. Technically, Good and Evil aren't supposed to interfere with us since they're the two Greatest Incarnations. But Millennium does anyways."

"Why?" Allen asked.

"Why?" Kanda asked, snorting. "Because he's wants to win, that's why. He's evil. Evil people aren't above doing anything necessary to get what they want."

"Eh, but you do that all the time, Yuu-chan," Lavi pointed out. "You're not evil."

"That's a matter of perspective," Tyki said flatly.

"I second that," Allen said.

Kanda shot him a glare. "No one asked for your opinion, dipshit," he hissed.

"Well, you got it."

"Alright, alright," Lavi said loudly. "Can we get back to the story here?" He sighed. "I can already tell you two are gonna be a handful."

"And you're not?" Kanda retorted.

"So, going on," Lavi said, pretending to have not heard Kanda. "He interferes with what we do, and tries to make it look as though he's the good guy. Tries to cut ya deals all the time, making it look like he's your friend. But he's not! So don't be fooled. The five standard Incarnations – Death, Time, Fate, War and Nature – have to fight against him, trying not to be pulled into his little schemes. It's hard work, but hey, not everyone can answer the phones."

"Do you even have phones here?" Allen asked, blinking.

"Sure!" Lavi said happily. "We have anything you want here! Or at least, even if you don't, you can make some dead person go get it for you."

"What?!" Allen yelped.

"What?" Tyki asked. "This is Purgatory. The dead guys have to work off their centuries of servitude somehow. It's their job to do whatever we ask them to."

"But…that seems like you're taking advantage of them," Allen said weakly.

"Che, it's not our fault they were fuck-ups in their previous lives," Kanda snorted.

Allen sighed and leaned back in his chair. "This is a lot to take in," he muttered. "What on earth did I get myself into?"

"Technically, you weren't given a choice," Lavi pointed out. "You were given the duty."

"You said I had my own home, right?" Allen asked, suddenly feeling very tired. "Not to sound rude, but could I just…go there? I…I need to think this over and sort some things out."

"Sure, sure," Lavi said. "Just go get Mortis and he'll take ya there."

Allen nodded and stood up. He looked up and realized that he really had no idea where the stables were. "Um, which way were the stables again?" he asked sheepishly. To his surprise, Kanda huffed and stood up, walking over to the nearest doorway.

"Come on, you retarded brat, before you get lost in a closet somewhere," he said.

Allen was obviously meant to follow him, so he did, albeit with a rather sour expression on his face due to Kanda's harsh words. Honestly, it wasn't his fault that he had no sense of direction! "It wasn't like I didn't know where to go," he said hotly as soon as they were out of earshot of the other two.

Kanda rolled his eyes. "Are you shitting me?" he demanded. "It took you forever to get your sorry ass back here after I left you in the stables. No, it took _Lavi _to get you back here. You obviously have no clue where to go."

"You don't have to be so rude all the time," Allen said reproachfully.

"And you don't have to act so stupid," Kanda retorted, "but we don't always get what we want, now do we?"

Allen glared at the man's back as he fell back a few steps so that he wouldn't be expected to actually talk with the insufferable man. It took a few minutes to get back to the stables. While Allen was bringing Timcanpy – he refused to call the creature Mortis, no matter what everyone else said – out of his stall, Kanda opened up what appeared to be an outside entrance to the rest of Purgatory. Allen clambered up onto the horse's back with surprising ease, considering he'd never really ridden a horse before.

"You know where to go, right?" Allen murmured softly, petting the neck of the creature below him. Timcanpy snorted and lowered and raised his neck in what Allen assumed to be a nod. He urged the horse forward to the edge of the stables.

"Oi."

Allen stopped just as they were about to leave, looking down at Kanda in surprise. The Incarnation of War wasn't looking at him; he was staring off at a rather oddly shaped cloud in the distance. "I'll come by your place tomorrow to show you the ropes. Be ready by six in the morning."

Allen blinked. "Alright," he said slowly, unsure what to make of the almost neutral tone Kanda was speaking in.

Kanda snorted. "Don't flatter yourself," he said, immediately crushing Allen's hope that perhaps he was bipolar and was nice half of the time, "I'm only doing this because I'm the oldest Incarnation. All of the others are too stupid to know how to teach you jackshit."

"You don't have to explain yourself to me, Kanda," Allen said.

"I'm not," Kanda said stubbornly. "I just don't want you thinking I actually _like _you."

Allen chuckled. "Believe me, Kanda, you haven't given me that impression at all. Your reputation's safe."

"Whatever," Kanda said. "Just get lost."

Allen smiled briefly before nudging Timcanpy with his feet. Like a rocket, the horse was off, racing out to the edge of the cloud. Allen yelped and hung onto the pale white mane for dear life. "Oh, good heavens," he muttered when he saw the edge of the cloud. Closing his eyes and bracing himself for that sinking feeling you got whenever you go down, he waited for the roaring in his ears to start. But to his surprise, it never came.

Opening his eyes hesitantly, he realized that Timcanpy had spread a pair of feathery wings and was soaring above the gap between clouds. When he was above the next one, he landed and galloped straight to the edge before leaping off again. Allen gasped in delight; he hadn't known the horse had had wings! Though now that he thought about it, that seemed to make sense. He couldn't think of another way that the horse could take him anyway in the world.

Feeling much safer now, he watched in awe as the sun began to sink below the cloud layer, casting rays of pink, purple and orange light into the darkening sky. The first few stars were just peeking out near the very top of the atmosphere. Looking back down, he saw what appeared to be another castle looming out of the distance. It was for this castle that Timcanpy was headed.

It only took several more minutes for them to reach their destination. Timcanpy stopped rather suddenly as soon as they hit the cloud, making Allen fly forward over his neck to fall on the ground rather hard. Luckily, there seemed to be grass growing on this particular cloud, so the landing was softer than it could have been. Allen turned around to see the horse grazing peacefully. With a sigh, he shook his head and stood up, dusting off his pants.

"I suppose this is my home, then," he said to no one in particular.

"That would be correct, sir," a slightly accented voice said from his right.

"Kyaa!" He yelped, quickly turning around to see who had spoken. To his surprise, a tall man was standing there, dressed like a butler. Allen would swear the man hadn't been there two seconds ago. "Who are you?" he demanded, his heart still beating like mad.

"Arystar Krory, my Lord, at your service," the man supplied, bowing. "I'm your butler."

"My butler?" Allen repeated. "I have a butler?"

"You live in a castle," the man pointed out. "Isn't it only fitting that you have a butler?"

"But…are you an Incarnation?"

"Of course not," the man said, smiling for the first time. He looked much nicer this way, Allen noted. Though his canines still appeared suspiciously sharp. "I'm merely a soul working to get to heaven, like we all are."

"But why are you my butler?"

"This is my service," Krory explained. "I am to serve as the butler to the Incarnation of Death until my sentence expires, at which time I am to be reevaluated and then sent on to heaven." He gulped nervously. "Hopefully." A fearful expression suddenly grew on his face. "Why?! Am I not to your liking?! I can change if you'd like! Or you can contact the maintenance computer for a replacement!"

"The maintenance computer?" Allen asked.

"Oh, yes, this place is maintained by a computer!" Krory explained. "It's not under the jurisdiction of anyone else, so there is a computer to make sure that all of us souls are working as we are. It's also an information database, in case an Incarnation needs to perform research about a particular subject."

"I…see," Allen said uncertainly. "Well, if you're my butler, is there any way you could show me to my room? I really am quite tired." After all, it had been night when Kanda had rather rudely taken him away from earth. It appeared as if the Incarnations ran on a different sort of time table, however, if the sun setting was any indication.

"Of course!" Krory said. "Follow me!"

Allen followed the tall man into the castle and up several flights of stairs to finally end up in a rather spacious set of rooms that were apparently his and his alone. There was a bedroom, a bathroom as well a private study, although Allen couldn't really think of anything to study here. He set the items Kanda had given him down before turning around to tell Krory that he was going to go to sleep. The butler smiled and left, but not before asking several times if he was suitable for Allen's needs.

When the door finally shut, Allen sighed and collapsed on the bed, staring at the stone ceiling. It had been quite a day, and he still wasn't sure how to take all this. He had had a life back on earth. It hadn't been the best of lives, and he'd always had his problems, but this…it was like having everything you were comfortable with yanked away from you. He didn't miss his nonexistent family. In that regard, he seemed better off now.

His friends – or half-friends, since that was really all they were – would probably wonder where he was for a little bit, but they would move on soon enough. It was really rather a sad thought. He looked around the room with another sigh. He had to say, his living accommodations had improved. But he still didn't know what the hell was going on. Kanda had mentioned that he had been chosen for this duty, selected by its last holder as the successor.

But…he didn't remember accepting any kind of weird role like this. He didn't remember accepting anything! He hadn't asked for this, and he really didn't want it, to be honest. Perhaps he could resign. But then he would probably have to pass it on to another human, and he wouldn't want to just force it on someone like it had been forced on him. He would have to ask. And how many people wanted to leave their friends and family for a macabre job like this one? They'd have to have a few screws loose.

He kicked his shoes off then and took off his outer clothes, leaving only his boxers and undershirt on before crawling beneath the plush blankets and turning onto his side. The lights were already off and the natural light that was seeping in from the windows was beginning to fade. It would be dark enough for sleep soon.

He didn't know what to do. It wasn't really fair that he'd just been thrust into this all of a sudden, but since when was life fair? He supposed he would give it a few days and see what happened before he penned up a resignation. But one thing still confused him. How had Death's powers been transferred to him without his consent? He couldn't figure it out based simply on what he knew now. Closing his eyes, he decided to put it off until the morning.

After all, he could just ask Kanda.

* * *

**Eh, sorry if there are a lot of mistakes. I have to get going like NOW, so I just figured I'd put this up real quick before I leave. I'll go back and edit the mistakes later. **

**Thanks for reading and don't forget to review :D  
**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello!!**

**Thank goodness I was able to get this chapter out much faster than the previous one, haha!! It's still not as long as my normal chapters are, but it's longer than the last one. Plus we haven't really gotten to the action yet, so I don't want to have a whole lot of nothing in the chapter. **

**Anyways, thanks again for all the reviews/faves/alerts!!

* * *

**Allen groaned in his sleep, feeling an annoying prickling sensation in his leg. He cracked his eyes open; his room was still dark, which meant the sun hadn't risen yet, which meant that he wasn't getting up yet. Shutting his eyes, his snuggled deeper into the pillows, hoping the feeling would go away. He got his minute of peace before the same prickling sensation started in his other leg. His brows twitching in frustration, he tried his best to ignore it. When the feeling started moving up to his arms and torso, though, that was a bit much.

Flinging his eyes wide open, he sat up. To his surprise, Kanda was standing next to the bed, holding what appeared to be a box full of…knives?! He looked down at his body and was startled to see quite a few knives sticking out of his body. He screamed and flailed around, ultimately ending up on the floor with the sheets wrapped around him. He quickly pulled all the intruding weapons out, throwing them haphazardly across the room before rounding on the Incarnation of War.

"What the hell were you doing to me?!" he demanded.

"I was attempting to see how many knives I could stick in you before you woke up," Kanda said flatly. He looked around at the knives now scattered across the room. "Obviously, quite a few."

"_Why?!" _Allen cried.

"I told you to be awake at six in the morning for training," Kanda said, scowling. "It's already six-oh-two and you weren't even out of bed yet."

Allen groaned, holding his head in his hands. He had a killer headache that he suspected had something to do with falling out of the bed and landing on his face. He glared up at the other man. "Forgive me for being absolutely exhausted," he said sarcastically. "Let me see if I can summon up the energy to care that I'm two minutes late…yes, it doesn't seem to be working." He yelped again when Kanda kicked him roughly.

"I don't want your crappy ass excuses," he said. "I want you to get up off your ass and get ready before we're even later!"

"Fine, fine," Allen said, getting up. "Are you at least going to give me the time to take a bath?"

"…" Kanda gave him a rather blank stare.

"I suppose that's a no," Allen guessed, moving over to put on the clothes he'd discarded yesterday night. He would have to see about getting some new ones soon. He certainly didn't want to have to wear the same pair of underwear for the rest of his life. That would be rather disgusting. He didn't even bother putting on the tie, or even the belt. He didn't even tuck in the shirt. He decided against looking in the mirror, knowing full well that he wouldn't like what he saw.

"You look like shit," Kanda noted.

"Well, considering that I'm supposed to wear that big black cloak you gave me, I really don't think it matters, now, does it?" Allen said, walking across the room to grab the accoutrements Kanda had given him the day before. He shrugged the cloak on and picked up the box with the stones in it. He wasn't sure what to do with those, but he figured it would be best to hold onto them for the time being.

"Are you ready yet?" Kanda demanded.

"Goodness gracious, hold your horses," Allen muttered, motioning for the other to lead on, considering that he had no idea where they were going. "You should be glad I'm even doing this."

"What was that?"

"Nothing," Allen replied, sighing. Kanda didn't look as though he believed him, but he let the matter drop, thankfully. The Incarnation of War led him outside and towards Timcanpy, who was currently resting under the shade of a…tree? Allen frowned; he was almost positive that tree hadn't been there yesterday. Shaking his head, he decided to let it go. This Purgatory was a strange place.

They continued walking over to the horse, who looked up at them rather expectantly. "Get up, you stupid creature," Kanda grunted. "We have work to do." Suddenly, the horse lashed out, biting at the man. Kanda cursed and moved out of the way just in time to avoid being chomped. "What the fuck!?"

Allen couldn't help but snicker a bit. "Maybe you should be nice to things with sharp teeth, Kanda," he said, smirking.

"Shove off," Kanda warned. Timcanpy stood up then, looking smugger than Allen had ever seen any horse. But of course, Timcanpy was the coolest horse he'd ever met. Kanda looked at the horse expectantly; the horse just stared back. "What are you waiting for?" he finally demanded, irritated. "I told you we have work to do!"

Timcanpy whickered then, as if it were sighing, before shutting its eyes and taking a few steps backwards. Allen frowned; what on earth was going on? His eyes widened when the horse before him suddenly transferred into a sleek, black limousine, a pale sheen covering its metal frame. A door on the side popped open.

"Che, about fucking time," Kanda muttered, stepping forward and into the car. Allen followed, somewhat in a daze. As soon as he sat down, his jaw hit the floor. Inside the car was what had to have been the equivalent of a government testing facility. There were several computers, monitors everywhere, machines printing out stacks of papers left and right and something that looked suspiciously like a scythe shoved behind a corner.

"What on earth…?" Allen jumped as the door slammed shut without his aid. He looked to Kanda for an explanation, but the other Incarnation had just settled down on the low seat on one side of the car, crossing his arms over his chest. "What is this?"

"This is how you find out who you need to go visit," Kanda said, shutting his eyes. "The computer screen in the middle tells you what soul you have to go get next and where to go. The stupid horse knows where to go."

"What are these?" Allen asked, walking over to inspect one of the stacks of paper.

"Your stats," Kanda replied.

"Stats?"

"Yes, it registers how absolutely horribly you do on a day-to-day basis," Kanda said, sneering at him. "How many souls you send on a day, what percentage of them go on to hell, how many appointments you miss-"

"Miss?" Allen interrupted. "What happens if I miss one?"

Kanda shrugged. "I don't know," he said. "And quite frankly, I don't care."

The computer blipped suddenly, a message box popping up on one of the multiple monitors. Allen sat down in the chair behind the desk that jutted out of the side of the car. To his surprise, the box contained the answer to his question. He read the information out loud, quietly so as not to disturb Kanda. "The souls who are not collected at the time of death become ghosts, who continue to exist on earth, chained to the place where they were killed. Eventually, they are phased out until they move on." He paused then. "So you mean I can't go and collect them?"

"Apparently not," Kanda said grumpily. "But enough of that. Let's get going, I don't have all day to babysit you."

"I don't need a babysitter," Allen retorted. "I'm not a kid."

"You're what, five-three?"

"Five-six, thank you very much!" Allen snapped.

"Whatever. I've met kids taller than you."

"I'm sure they were traumatized by the experience," Allen said, rolling his eyes. He looked to the middle screen then, seeing a name flashing up in the corner – Andrew Collins. There was also a timer, which was counting down from an hour, and a location – Santa Barbara, California. "Um, how do we get to Santa Barbara?"

Suddenly, he felt the car start up. Startled, he grabbed the bottom of his seat with both hands, hanging up tightly. "What's going on?" he demanded, looking to Kanda for an explanation.

The dark-haired man just rolled his eyes at him. "We're going to Santa Barbara, retard," he muttered. "What else?"

They began jolting forward. Allen was thrown out of the seat and into the floor. He dragged himself up off the floor and moved into the seat Kanda was sitting in. Staring at the window, he quickly became dizzy at how fast the landscape was moving past him. He couldn't see anything – it was all a mass of colors and lights. Feeling slightly nauseous, he turned away from the window, choosing instead to stare at the floor.

Scarcely ten minutes later, the car came smoothly to a stop. Kanda stood up then and walked over to the where the door was. Allen, still slightly dizzy, followed him. When they stepped outside, it was to the hot darkness of the scene of a car accident. It took Allen a minute to realize that they had come from London early morning, which of course put California somewhere in the middle of the night.

He looked over to the sight of the death. He winced at the sight of the two cars crunched together. Well, only one was the car; the other was an SUV. The tiny compact car hadn't stood a chance. It was completely totaled. The police were there, directing traffic around the accident and getting the information of both the participants. The owner of the SUV was standing outside the car, running a hand through his thinning hair. It looked as if the paramedics were still trying to get the body out of the car.

He felt a push on his back then. He stumbled forward and regained his footing quickly before shooting a glare at Kanda. "What was that for?!"

"What are you waiting for?" Kanda asked, bored. "Get on with it."

"But I don't know what I'm supposed to do!" Allen protested.

"So wing it," Kanda said, uninterested. He sat down by the limousine, pulled out his sword and abruptly began to sharpen it, as if to prove that he wasn't helping out at all.

Allen sighed and turned back around, steeling himself. He walked slowly towards the car. He wagered that humans couldn't normally see Incarnations, considering that no one had stopped to look at the stretch limo that had floated out of the sky. Sure enough, as he approached, no one even looked up. The paramedics abruptly left the car then, moving over to the ambulance and huddling around the back; it looked as if they were discussing what to do next.

He took his chance and came up to the side of the car, looking in the window. He immediately wished he hadn't, as his stomach immediately rebelled. He had to force himself not to vomit. The poor driver was breathing raggedly, his entire left side completely crushed by the force of the collision. Bones had poked their way out of the skin and blood was everywhere. Fading brown eyes were glazed over with pain.

To Allen's surprise, the man made a choking noise as his eyes found Allen. He said something garbled, that Allen couldn't make out because of damage to his windpipe. He was surprised that the man could even see him. He frowned when he saw a little glowing sphere of light centered over what appeared to be the man's chest.

Figuring that that was the soul, he quickly took the stones out of his pocket. Gathering the black one in his hand first, he held it carefully over the man's heart. After a minute or two, in which the dark stone continued to get darker and darker until it was almost too much to look at, Allen switched the stones and held up the white one.

It soon became clear that the white stone was brighter than the black stone was darker. He figured that that meant this soul was bound for heaven. He put the stones back and carefully reached out to take the soul. To his surprise, it seemed to be anchored, and didn't want to leave. He had to put a little, which made the man grunt and groan in pain. "Sorry," he muttered to the man, not able to look him in the face. Finally, he yanked on the soul hard, and it came free. Immediately, the man was still and his breathing ceased.

"Good job, my Lord."

Allen jumped back a few steps to see a young man with pale blond hair and curious yellow eyes smiling encouragingly at him. "W-who are you?" he asked, still clenching the soul in his hand.

The man evidently noticed the tension in his hand. "Oh, don't grip it too hard, or you'll damage it!" he said quickly. Allen looked down and quickly released some of the pressure. "That's better. As to who I am, I would've thought that was obvious by now."

Allen blinked. It was then that he saw that the limousine was gone. He blinked again, and then frowned. "Timcanpy?!" he asked, startled.

The man chuckled and then nodded. "The very same," he said. "I can change my shape at will to suit your needs. At the moment, you need advice, so I am here to give it to you. You noticed that the white stone was somewhat brighter, am I right?" Allen nodded. "This soul is bound for heaven. You've already gotten the soul, though I must say, you need to practice in removing it so that you don't cause the victim any more pain than necessary."

Allen felt horribly guilty. "I made his death painful?" he asked, gulping.

"Well, he was already in a lot of pain, I doubt you did any serious harm," Timcanpy answered, waving it off like it was nothing. "Anyways, on to the soul. If you check in the box that contained the stones, you should find a bunch of smaller stones underneath their cushions. Go on, check." Allen did so, and was surprised to find a little compartment filled with small, round white pebbles. He took one out. "Good! Now, attach the stone to the soul and just let go."

"Just let go?" Allen repeated.

"Just let go."

Allen nodded warily and tied a knot around the stone with the rope. Not knowing exactly what to expect, he was surprised to find that when he let go, the soul immediately began to rise. He watched it rise until it was out of sight. When he looked down again, he saw that Timcanpy had transformed into a limousine once again. He smiled faintly and began to walk back to the door, Kanda standing up to follow him.

"Che, took you long enough," the dark-haired man said scathingly.

"Oh, be quiet," Allen snapped. "It's not like you're actually helping anyways, like you claim you're supposed to."

Kanda stared at him for a moment. "Just give it a while, kid," he said softly. "It hasn't sunk in yet." He then got into the car. Allen frowned, not understanding exactly what Kanda was talking about. He turned around when he heard an exclamation behind him. It seemed as if the paramedics had just then discovered that their victim had died. He felt bad for them, but he was glad the man was in a better place now.

For the rest of the day, he more or less did the same thing. He soon discovered that there was a wide variety of death cases in the world. Some were small, simple cases, like people dying in their sleep, or succumbing to a disease. Others were different. It was horrifying as to how cruel the human race could be.

He saw faces of children, screwed up in so much pain, their bodies mutilated beyond repair. There were car accidents, and freak accidents, and victims of abuse and slaughter. They were people in countries who were just killed like animals in mass genocide. It was so disturbing. It continued to get harder and harder to get out of the car and go face what was next; he had no way of knowing was his newest assignment was until he saw for his own eyes.

It was about five at night when he climbed back into the car after a particularly rough case. A woman had just been beaten to death by her husband, who'd come home in a drunken rage after he'd lost his job. Allen had had to watch – knowing that he couldn't interfere – as the woman was beaten like a rag doll before she finally collapsed. He'd rushed to take the soul from her body as quickly as possible. The worst part was that she had had to be sent to hell – there would be no relief for her.

He pulled the door shut wearily, feeling his entire body shaking. He felt Kanda staring at him, but he didn't say anything. "Timcanpy, take us home now," he heard the other say, in a low, soft voice. The car started off then, at a much easier pace than normal, for which Allen was grateful. "Here."

Allen looked up to see Kanda offering him what appeared to be…a couple of cookies? He frowned in confusion, but took the cookies anyway. "What's this?" he asked quietly.

Kanda sighed. "I took these from the stupid Rabbit's room earlier," he said. "His stupid fuckbuddy likes to bake." Allen smiled faintly at the image of Tyki baking cookies. "You need them."

Allen picked one up and hesitantly took a bite. Surprised at how good it was, and how easily it seemed to calm his nerves down a bit, he wolfed down the other cookies as well. When he was finished, he looked up to see Kanda staring at him. "This is what you meant, right?" he asked quietly. "That it hadn't sunk in yet?"

"It always takes new Incarnations a while to adjust to their new positions," Kanda said gruffly. "Death is harder than most just because of the duties entailed."

"I hate looking at them," Allen muttered. "I hate seeing their eyes in so much pain. And they…they all look at me, with those eyes, just pleading for me to do something. But…they all look so scared and helpless."

"It's because they don't know where they'll end up once they're dead," Kanda said flatly. "Right before you die, your entire life flashes before you, and you remember every good and bad thing you've ever done. You remember how horrible you are, how miserable you've made people, and the tiny good things you managed to do along the way."

"You talk like you've been there before, Kanda," Allen noted.

Kanda looked at him then, a guarded glance that told him not to interfere. "It's none of your business," he snapped. "People sicken me with how stupid and easy they are to read. They're all selfish, jealous creatures that only act for their own good."

"You were human once," Allen pointed out.

"That was a long time ago, Moyashi," Kanda allowed.

"It still happened."

"Just drop it."

Allen sighed and leaned back in the seat. "The worst part is knowing that I'm sending half of them on to even more pain and suffering," he said. "One…one was just a child, Kanda, a _child. _He couldn't have been more than ten." He shook his head then. "But I had to send him to hell. I…I almost couldn't do it."

"Try not to think of them as kids," Kanda murmured. "Try to see them as horrible people who deserve to die."

"I can't do that," Allen said, shaking his head sadly.

"Then you're an idiot who only causes himself pain," Kanda snapped. The car stopped then. They had apparently reached their destination. Allen stood and shakily got out of the car; sure enough, they were back at his home in the clouds. Kanda got out behind him. As soon as they were gone, Timcanpy changed back into a horse and trotted off to go grazing.

Allen looked over to Kanda. "I've wasted an entire day with you," he said grumpily. "Now I have to recalculate my entire battle plan."

"Battle plan?" Allen asked, frowning.

"Drug traffickers in Columbia," Kanda clarified. "I knew what was going to happen earlier today, but I haven't gotten in touch with the leaders of the opposition yet. They're all such imbeciles. Now I have to go find out what the hell they're doing."

"Gotten in touch with?" Allen asked, confused. "You talk to humans?"

"Of course not," Kanda scoffed. "Don't be stupid, Moyashi."

"But then, how-"

"I don't have time to explain," Kanda rushed. "Go get some sleep or something, kid. You look like hell."

"I'm not a kid!" Allen protested. "For Pete's sake, Kanda, I'm eighteen!"

"You were."

Allen rolled his eyes, but didn't say anything else. Instead, he shrugged off his cloak and folded it over an arm before trudging up to the entrance of his house. "Hey!" He turned around to see Kanda still standing where he'd left him. "Not bad today, brat. For a beginner."

Allen sighed, but smiled anyways, figuring that was as close to a compliment as he was ever going to get from Kanda. He turned around again and walked into the house. To his surprise, Krory was standing there talking to someone. The two immediately ceased their conversation as Krory turned around. "Oh, Master Allen, you have a visitor!"

"Really?" Allen asked. "Who?"

A young woman stepped out from behind Krory then. Her dark green hair was long and her eyes shimmered like violet gemstones. She had what looked like a crown of ivy on her head. Her dress was seemed to be composed of the same ivy that was around her head. She was also barefoot. A bright blue bird was posed on her shoulder.

"Hello!" she said, her voice sweet and kind.

"Um, hello," Allen said, smiling nervously at her. "Not to sound rude, but…who are you?"

The woman laughed at him then. "Oh, silly, who else would I be?" At his still rather blank stare, she sighed. "I am Gaia, the Incarnation of Nature. But you can call me Lenalee." The bird chirped annoyingly at her shoulder. She rolled her eyes then and pointed to the blue bird. "And _this _is my brother, Komui."

Allen blinked. "Your brother is a bird?" he asked, confused.

"Well, normally, he's human," Lenalee explained. "But he was being annoying. So I turned him into a bird."

"You turned him into a bird?" Allen repeated slowly.

"Yep!" Lenalee said, stepping forward to slip her arm through his. "Maybe the next time he's annoying it'll be an ant. That way he can't make noise." The bird squawked indignantly, flapping its wings in what could've been panic. "But anyways! Forget him. You and I have loads to talk about!"

"We do?" Allen asked as he was steered into a sitting room.

"Oh yes," she said, her eyes twinkling deviously. "Tons."

* * *

**Sorry for any errors. I don't really feel like doing a proofread right now. Also, I have decided to change Tyki from the Incarnation of Famine to the Incarnation of Slaughter. I don't really feel like going back and changing it now, lol, so just keep that in mind!! It will be changed eventually, haha.**

**Seriously though, I'm so bored. I have like...nothing to do. All of my friends are out of town or working or busy. I have no one to talk to. It's kind of sad, lol. But at least it gave me time to write this, haha.  
**

**Don't forget to review :D  
**


	5. Chapter 5

Ugh, I'm so sorry this took so long to finish.

I don't know, I've just been busier than I thought I would be, what with practicing for cross country in the fall and going on college visits and having to do things like senior pictures and summer reading. I'll sincerely try to get the next chapter out faster. It should go faster now since the main goal of the story's been established with this chapter. Plus this story isn't as serious as some of my others. It's light-hearted. With some dark undertones, lol, I'll admit that.

This chapter was beta-ed by the absolutely fantastic **Dr. Composed**!! Seriously, she's awesome :D

And thanks again for all the reviews/faves/alerts!!

* * *

"So," Lenalee said, settling her hands in her lap. "How do you like it here?"

"Well, it's…different," Allen said slowly.

"That it is," she agreed, nodding.

"What did you want to talk about?" Allen asked.

"Oh, right!" she said, her face immediately brightening. "I need to ask you a favor."

"A favor?" Allen repeated.

"Yes!" Lenalee said. She held her hand out then, and what appeared to be wooden tablet suddenly formed in her palm. Allen blinked in confusion. "I need you to not take away the souls of a few people." Allen took the tablet from her and looked down at it. In neat print, there were various names carved on the wood. "You'll find their names already there."

He looked up at her, puzzled. "But I have to take these peoples' souls, don't I?" he asked.

"Well, you normally would," Lenalee explained, "But I need you to _not_ do that."

"Why? Wouldn't that be breaking the rules?"

"Bending them, not breaking them," Lenalee clarified.

"But I'm not doing the job I'm supposed to do," he protested faintly.

She sighed then. "Allen, believe me, I am the Incarnation of Nature," she said patiently. "I know how far I can bend a branch of willow before it will snap. And trust me, this branch is quite flexible. Besides, their souls aren't going to just become ghosts. I'm going to save those humans' lives at the last moment."

"Why?"

"Why?" she repeated, sounding slightly scandalized. "Well, you have to give the poor humans _some _hope! I mean, look at how bad the state of affairs in the world is right now!"

"What about it?"

"Billy Mays just died," she said, sounding quite solemn.

"…who is he?"

She frowned. "Where are you from again? Originally, I mean."

"London."

"Oh, that's right," she said, nodding. "Well, you wouldn't have heard of him, I suppose. He was a spokesperson, one of my proudest accomplishments. I gave him Secretariat's lungs! In human form, of course."

"Um…Secretariat?" Allen asked, totally confused.

"Don't worry about it," Lenalee said, waving a hand at him dismissively. "He was such a good specimen. I modified him a little bit, of course. No human is born with a set of lungs that big. But just a week or so ago, he died! Freak accident!" She sighed. "On top ofthat,there's Michael Jackson, North Korea – I swear, Kim Jong-Il was a mistake, his parents were never supposed to have sex that night – and Armenia, and it's just a disaster!"

"What's going on in Armenia?" Allen asked, tilting his head to the side a bit.

"There's _always _something going on in Armenia," Lenalee said conspiratorially.

Allen waited to see if she was going to offer up anything else, but when she just stared back at him expectantly, he supposed that was it. "Alright, so, well, correct me if I'm wrong, but I still don't see how not saving those people won't get me in trouble," he offered up.

She sighed. "These people were all slated to die from natural disasters," she explained. "I'm Mother Nature – I can make the natural disaster go around them, save them right before their imminent doom. These aren't people who would've died in freak accidents, or even been killed."

"Oh." Well, he supposed that made sense.

"So, how are you adjusting?" she asked, quickly moving on to a new topic. "Did Kanda show you the ropes today?"

He snorted. "Well, he came with me," he said, "but he didn't do much instructing."

She sighed. "That's just like him," she said. "Don't worry about it. He's like a geode."

Allen blinked. "A geode?" he repeated.

"Yeah!" She paused for a moment. "You have no idea what I'm talking about, do you?" Allen shook his head, flushing a little in embarrassment. "Ah, well. A geode is a type of rock. Now, normally they're not very attractive – they just look like normal rocks. But if you crack them up, there are beautiful crystals on the inside!"

"So you're saying…that Kanda is a rock."

"No, no, no," Lenalee said quickly, smiling at him as if he'd just made a wonderful joke. "What I'm saying is that Kanda has many, many layers. He's all tough and hard on the outside like a rock, but on the inside, he's not so bad."

"So you're saying Kanda actually resembles a sparkling crystal."

"You're missing the point," she said, sighing again. "The point is – don't judge Kanda just having known him a day or so. He's not as horrible as he seems."

"I don't know," Allen said noncommittally. "He just doesn't seem to like me very much."

"He doesn't like anybody."

"Yes, well…me especially."

She sighed again, and stood up. "Well, just wait and see what happens," she said kindly. "He'll warm up to you eventually."

"Maybe when hell freezes over," Allen muttered under his breath.

"Actually, the belief that hell is a big broiler room with fire everywhere isn't correct," Lenalee said as she moved to the doorway. "Since it's separated from Heaven, and thus farther and farther away from all that is Good, it's cold. It's more like a freezer." She looked back over her shoulder, smiling mischievously. "Ever heard of Dante?" Allen nodded. "He was another one of my favorites."

"But Dante's Inferno has so many different layers," Allen protested, "and it's only the last one that's cold, right?"

"Well, of course," she said. They were back in the foyer now, and she was adjusting the leaves of her dress. "It gets colder the farther down you get. And besides, there can still be fire where it's cold. Look at Iceland!"

Allen smiled, and chose not to say anything in response. He said his good-byes and waited until he was completely alone before sighing. He was so tired; he had thought that he had been exhausted yesterday, but this day was even worse! And it wasn't even seven o'clock yet!

"Can I get you anything, sir?" Krory asked, stepping forward.

"No," Allen said softly, "I think I'll just go to bed."

"Very good, sir."

* * *

Allen woke up at a normal hour the next day. He quickly showered and ate some breakfast before heading back to Timcanpy to do his duties. The second day wasn't any better than the first day, but at least this time he had some clue as to what to expect. He took Lenalee's tablet with him, and dutifully avoided those names she was planning on saving.

It was about four in the afternoon when he got his next surprise. He had just finished taking the life of an elderly old man who was dying of cancer (he'd gone to Heaven, so it was an easy job), and had gone back to find his next job. But when he looked at the computer screen, he saw that it was a block of names. Frowning, he told Timcanpy to take him to the next destination. He wondered absently why the names weren't individual this time. But he soon figured it out when he stepped outside.

It was blaringly hot outside, and there was nothing but sand and rocks and spare plants. He suspected that they were somewhere in the Middle East. As he moved a little bit forwards, he saw that he was actually standing atop a short cliff, and below him, a battle of sorts was raging. He frowned. How on earth was he supposed to tell who was dying and who wasn't?!

"Moyashi, it's about time you fucking showed up," a disgruntled voice growled from behind him. Allen turned around, his cloak billowing around him in the wind. Kanda was standing there, his sword freed in his hand. There was something strange about him, Allen observed. But he couldn't quite tell what it was. It wasn't a physical change.

"What do you mean?" he asked quietly.

Kanda rolled his eyes. "In case you haven't noticed, dipshit, there's a war going on down there," he said. "People die in wars."

Allen scowled at him. "I know that, Kanda; I'm not stupid," he said darkly.

"So go do your job!" Kanda said, motioning to the battlefield.

"It's a war," Allen said, frowning, "isn't that _your _job?"

"It's my job to fight and direct wars, not collect the souls of the losers who get themselves killed," the dark-haired man said with a shrug. "And at the moment, I am busy figuring out what the generals are going to do."

"You mean you're not going to fight?" Allen asked, surprised.

"Of course not," Kanda snapped. "That's what the stupid rabbit and the other idiot are for." He waved a hand out at the battlefield; Allen followed the motion and saw Tyki out there amongst the action. It didn't look as if he was actually fighting. It was more like he was moving around, encouraging the fighting; Tyki seemed to be in the areas of the strongest bloodbaths. He didn't see Lavi though.

Allen took a step closer to the edge of the cliff. "How am I supposed to find those souls in all this?" he asked himself quietly, running a hand through his hair. "This is madness!"

"No, this is Sparta!"

Allen jumped with a yelp at the voice's proximity to his ear, and whirled around to see Lavi standing there, grinning brightly at him. "Lavi!" he said, scowling. "Don't do that!"

"Heh, gotcha!" the red-head grinned. "But I couldn't help but hear what you just said, little man."

"Don't call me little man," Allen said hotly.

"Sure, sure," Lavi said, "And when you actually achieve average height, I will take back every crack I have ever made on your size. But that day is not today, my friend. And so the insult parade marches on. Anyways, it's easy enough. The stones you got should start to glow when you get near someone you've gotta save in situations like this. Didn't you know that?"

Allen quirked an eyebrow and glanced over at Kanda, who was now sitting on the ground cross-legged with his eyes closed. "I didn't know that," he said quietly, "but I had a horrible teacher."

"I heard you, you stupid little piece of shit," Kanda snarled.

"That was the point!" Allen said cheerily. He turned back to Lavi. "But really, I can just use the stones?"

"Sure, sure," Lavi said. "Here, I'll even come with ya!"

"Oh, really, you don't have to do that," Allen said quickly as he started down the cliff. But Lavi stuck to his side like a burr. As he moved onto the first victim, he did his job quickly, not wanting to look the poor man in the face – or was left of it, after being shot in the cheek.

"Sheesh, that guy was disgusting!" Lavi said, quickly averting his eyes as they moved onto the next.

"He was shot in the face, Lavi."

"So?"

"How many guys do you know who would look attractive with half their face gone?" Allen asked, rolling his eyes. He'd reached the next victim now. This one wasn't as bad. It looked as if he'd just had his leg blown off and was slowly bleeding to death. Allen took his soul quickly to put him out of his pain.

"Eh, not too many," the red-head said quietly.

For the rest of their time out on the field, Lavi and Allen made small talk, most of which Lavi made at the expense of the poor soldiers. Allen was embarrassed that he found Lavi's jokes about the dying men somewhat humorous. They met up with Tyki a few times. He seemed to be enjoying himself. Lavi had said that this was the time when the Incarnation of Slaughter was the most beautiful; Allen had found that part more than a bit disturbing.

By the time he was finished, it was time for him to call it quits for the day. "So, Allen, you wanna come back to our place for dinner?" Lavi asked, apparently his appetite no worse for the wear. Even Allen himself – who had quite a healthy appetite – wasn't quite hungry.

"That's alright, Lavi, I-"

"You're not coming over for dinner," Kanda interjected firmly.

Allen blinked. "What?"

"They live with me, so I have to eat with them, and I don't want to eat with you," Kanda clarified.

"Oh, don't be so mean, Yuu-chan!" Lavi said.

Tyki, who was now finished, walked over to sling an arm over Lavi's shoulder. "We haven't even gotten to have a proper talk with young Allen here," he said, nodding.

"You want to talk?" Kanda asked, raising an eyebrow. "Then go over to his house."

"But Yuu-chan!"

"No buts! I have a very important battle to draw out for the morning, and I can't do it with an annoying brat hovering over me!"

"I don't hover," Allen said, frowning.

Kanda shot him a glare. "Whatever," he snapped.

"But Yuu-chan," Lavi said slyly, "you have to work with Allen about who's going to die tomorrow and who's not. I mean, if your plans go sour because a general unexpectedly dies, what are you gonna do?"

"I'll figure it out," Kanda said darkly. "I don't need his help."

"You used to work with the old Death all the time, and you never complained then," Tyki pointed out, frowning. "Why won't you work with Allen?"

"The old Death wasn't an idiotic brat with no idea what he was doing," Kanda said scathingly. "He wasn't overly sentimental, and he didn't need consoling after having to go and do his fucking job!"

Allen blinked, feeling a bit hurt at Kanda's words. He tried to tell himself that this was just Kanda, and that none of the insults were meant, but he couldn't help but feel a bit stung by the harsh words.

"Yuu-chan!" Lavi said, actually sounding a bit angry. "Don't be so cruel!"

"I'm not being cruel," Kanda said, glaring at Lavi, "I'm telling the truth."

"Allen, don't worry about it, he didn't mean it," Lavi said quickly, turning to Allen.

"No, he did mean it," Allen said quietly, looking away. "And while I appreciate your offer, Lavi, I think it's better if I just go." He looked up at the red-head. "Besides, I have to talk to Krory about a few things."

"Your _butler?" _Tyki asked, sounding scandalized. "You talk to your _butler?!" _

"Yes, why not?" Allen asked, frowning.

"He's the hired help!" Tyki said. "You should only talk to him when you need something!"

"Tyki came from a rich family before he became an Incarnation," Lavi explained quickly. "He's a bit spoiled. But really, Allen, you…talk to your butler?"

"Well, _he_ will at least hold a conversation with me without denouncing me as garbage," Allen said, refusing to look in Kanda's direction. "And besides, at least I'm not burdening him with my presence." He smiledrather forcedly at Lavi and Tyki, before starting back up to where Timcanpy resided at the top of the hill.

"Kanda, you idiot!" he heard Tyki say rather harshly. "Look what you've done!"

"What?" Kanda droned, sounding rather bored.

"You hurt his feelings!" Lavi said.

Kanda just snorted at that. Allen stopped listening then. It was nice of Lavi and Tyki to attempt to protect him from Kanda's obvious distaste for him, but he felt as if it were pointless. Evidently, Kanda didn't like him, and he honestly didn't see the point in trying to force a relationship that wasn't going to work. It was just better this way. Really.

He was quiet while Timcanpy brought him back home. After thinking about it for a while, he had finally managed to deduce what had seemed different about Kanda. While he'd been out there, overseeing the battle and making sure that nothing had gone awry – he'd seemed happy. Of course, he hadn't been smiling or laughing or giggling: that would be beyond weird. But he had liked what he was doing; he enjoyed doing his Incarnation duties. Of that, Allen was envious.

As soon as he stepped out of the limousine, Timcanpy transformed back into a horse, affectionately nuzzling him once before going over to graze. Allen walked back up to the front door slowly, tired in more than just one sense of the word. To his surprise, however, he found Kanda sitting on his doorstep. He paused and stared at the man for a moment. Kanda stared back.

"What are you doing here?" Allen finally asked.

"Che, the two idiots wouldn't shut up and I had nowhere to go," Kanda muttered.

Allen took a step closer. "And so you came here?"

"Who else would I go see?" Kanda demanded. "Lenalee's a bitch who'll manipulate you into always getting her way, Miranda's a nutjob, Anita's a meddling old woman, and earth sucks. That leaves you."

"Well, I'm glad to know I'm so high up on the list," Allen said, rolling his eyes. He moved then, up the stairs and around Kanda's figure to open the door. He didn't figure Kanda actually wanted to be around him as much as he wanted to avoid the others, so he didn't bother being hospitable.

"I didn't mean what I said earlier."

Allen paused half-way through the door to look down at Kanda. The other wasn't looking at him, but he was sure the quiet words had come out of his mouth. He sighed. "Kanda, you did too, and you know it," Allen said. "Don't bother."

"Don't bother what?"

"You obviously don't like me, so don't even make the effort," Allen explained. "Although if you don't like me, it really doesn't explain why you're _here_. But I don't care, and I don't need you to like me. So don't lie."

"I'm not lying," Kanda said fiercely. "I never lie."

"Then you didn't mean what you'd said earlier?" Allen asked, sighing. "You did, Kanda."

Kanda growled then, standing up and whirling around. "Look," he snapped. "I don't apologize to people. You're not getting an apology out of me. That was how I felt at the time, but it's not how I feel now."

"So you're bipolar?" Allen asked. "Or perhaps you have multiple personalities?"

"Stop joking around!" Kanda said angrily.

"I'm not joking," Allen said seriously. "They are very grave medical conditions."

"Just…just forget what I said earlier and pretend I didn't say it," Kanda said.

"Why?"

"Because we're going to have to work together at some point," Kanda said, looking as though it pained him to actually admit the truth. "I don't want to, because I don't like you, but I have to. You are everything that I said earlier, but I'll try to ignore it so that I can already get some shit accomplished."

"…I don't understand you at all," Allen said quietly.

"I don't want you to."

"Well then, mission accomplished."

* * *

"I don't think I've ever met a child as unlucky as this one," Marie said quietly, looking over Allen Walker's file. "His biological parents put him in an orphanage because of his arm, and he stayed there until a foster father came for him. But then, the man died of mysterious causes, leaving him all alone."

"Poor thing," Tiedoll said, smiling sadly. "And now he's under Yuu's wing."

"He's not that bad," Marie said. "He just takes some adjusting to."

"I know," Tiedoll said, nodding. "I just hope that he won't try to pass his duty on to someone else as soon as he can just to get away. I really think he'll be good for dear little Yuu."

"I wouldn't call him that near him," Marie advised, smiling.

"Ah, but of course," Tiedoll replied. "He doesn't like being around us anymore."

"Well, he is a fallen angel," Marie said sensibly. "I was his best friend, and you were his mentor. I can't imagine that he would want to see us, especially because of the…incident."

"Yes, well, he only has another thousand or so years of punishment to go."

"But then he'll go to Hell," Marie said, frowning.

"Not necessarily," Tiedoll said, shaking his head. "If he can meet the specifications, he will be spared, and simply given a place on earth to live out the rest of his life as a human."

"Specifications?"

Tiedoll chuckled. "Yes," he said. "Each fallen angel is given a punishment for their sins, generally a monotonous task over a long period of time. Afterwards, most go on to Hell, the place of eternal punishment. But they are all given a specification that, if reached, will save them from that fate."

"What kind of requirement is it?" Marie asked curiously.

"Something that is deemed nigh impossible for them, considering their personality," Tiedoll replied. "Hence why most fallen angels go to Hell and not to earth."

"What was Kanda's specification?"

Tiedoll chuckled then before turning to look at his last pupil. "Isn't it obvious?"

Marie shrugged.

"Yuu, the cold, antisocial prince of Heaven, must fall in love."

* * *

See what I mean, hehe? Now you know what must happen for the rest of the story :D

We're almost to 100 reviews!! Thanks for reading!! Any kind of review/comment is much appreciated :3


	6. Chapter 6

Woo!! I'm back!!

Sorry it took so long to get this latest chapter out. I was busy finishing up my other DGM story, Xanthous. But now that is over, and this story can have more attention. So, on with the latest chapter!! This one isn't as funny in my opinion, because I needed to move the plot along a little. I'm expecting this story to be perhaps fifteen chapters, and since it deals with falling in love, obviously, the time must skip around a bit. Because no one falls in love in a month. A couple of months? Possibly. One month? No.

A big shout-out to my wonderful beta, **Dr. Composed**!! She takes my horrible typos and turns them into real words again, haha.

And thanks for all the reviews for last chapter!! I was surprised to get so many for this story, but the response was awesome!!

* * *

Allen sighed rather dramatically. He had been here in Purgatory for about a week now, and he still hadn't managed to figure out the two people sitting across from him. Lavi was bent over the chessboard, staring intently at the pieces, his eyes – or eye, as one was covered up by a black patch – moving from piece to piece. Opposite him was Kanda, looking down at the game with a surprisingly tense expression on his face. To be honest, Allen had been surprised that Kanda was willing to play a game with the red-head; however, he had quickly discovered the reason behind such an act – Lavi was quiet when playing chess, devoting his entire attention to the game. Kanda just wanted him to shut up.

And they'd been playing for almost an hour now, with no clear winner in sight. They were both incredible at the game. Of course, if they'd been around for as long as Lavi insinuated, there was certainly enough time to get good at something.

He jumped when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Looking around, he saw Tyki standing there, a smirk on his tanned face. He jerked his head back to the open doors on the far wall that led out to a small balcony overlooking a break in the cloud matter. Allen stood up and went to follow the man as he walked across the room. Tyki pulled the doors somewhat closed behind them. "Pretty intense, aren't they?" he asked smoothly, pulling a cigarette out of his pocket and putting it in his mouth before lighting it.

Allen had been surprised to find out that Tyki smoked – but it appeared as if the souls in Purgatory could literally get you _anything. _However, since the Incarnations were practically immortal, smoking here wasn't hazardous to your health. "I never thought I'd see Lavi so…calm," he admitted, finally getting around to answering the Incarnation of Slaughter.

"You should see him after I've fu-"

"Please don't," Allen quickly interjected, grimacing slightly. He turned away as Tyki chuckled. He'd quickly found out that Tyki and Lavi had absolutely no shame when it came to their sexual endeavors. They would tell you anything and everything.

"Oh, if you insist," Tyki said, clearly amused. He sighed then and looked out at the sun, just beginning to go down below the cloud line. "Beautiful, isn't it?" he asked. "I've always liked beautiful things."

"It is," Allen agreed. He leaned against the balcony railing, studying the intense pink, orange, yellow and even lavender rays streaking across the sky. It looked like a scene from a painting, only all the more better because it was real.

"So, how are things coming along with you and our lovely friend Kanda?"

Allen blinked at the question and turned his attention back to the other man on the balcony. "What do you mean?" he asked slowly.

"Has he warmed up to you at all?"

Allen snorted. "Kanda's hardly a toaster oven, Tyki," he said sardonically. "I don't think he has a warming up function."

"He's really not so bad after a hundred years or so," Tyki replied, blowing out a puff of smoke. Allen wrinkled his nose in distaste, but didn't say anything.

"A hundred years is a long time."

"Not when you've been alive for thousands of years," Tyki pointed out. "Everything's relative."

Allen chose not to respond to that. To be honest, he really had started to get used to the Incarnation of War. Sure, Kanda wasn't the nicest or the most pleasant individual to be around, but he wasn't terrible. He certainly wasn't a saint, and though he did tend to get into his job a little more than was necessary – come on, what normal person came out of an air raid with a smile on their face? – he wasn't a cruel person. Kanda was just that – Kanda. He had his secrets, but to a certain extent, what you saw was what you got. And Allen was coming to terms with that.

"I think he likes you."

"Who?" Allen asked blankly.

Tyki snorted at that response. "Kanda, of course," he said. "Who else would I be talking about?"

Allen blinked in confusion for a moment, and then burst out laughing. Tyki stared at him rather oddly, as if he couldn't figure out why Allen was laughing. "No, seriously, who are you talking about?" Allen managed to choke out after he'd finished laughing. He wiped a few tears away from his eyes as he straightened back up.

"I'm not joking around, you know."

"But…you said that Kanda liked me," Allen said, unable to stop the goofy grin from spreading across his face. "And that's impossible because…well, I mean, it's _Kanda. _The only things he likes are bombs, bazookas and ballistic missiles."

"I didn't say that he liked you," Tyki clarified. "I don't know for sure what goes on in that angel's mind, and to be frank, I don't want to know. But he treats you differently than most people."

"What do you mean, differently?" Allen asked, truly interested now.

"Well, for one thing, he's always bickering with you," Tyki pointed out.

Allen blinked. "Kanda would argue with a fence post if he had a problem with it," he said flatly.

"True, but it's not the same thing," the other said, shaking his head. "He doesn't really argue with you – it's more like playful banter."

"He puts at least three death threats in every sentence he directs at me," Allen said, frowning. "How does that constitute playful banter? Unless his idea of playfulness is playing horseshoes with hand grenades."

"You think he actually means those threats?" Tyki asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Of course he does," Allen replied instantly. "He's the most homicidal person I've ever met. I think he has a serious problem."

"Well, yes, it's called Asshole Syndrome, but that's beside the point," Tyki went on, shaking his head. "Threats are second nature to Kanda. He throws them out the same way some people pop off your-mom jokes. You have to overlook them."

"How does one overlook a threat to be used for acupuncture practice, with his stupid sword as the needle?" Allen asked sarcastically.

"He said that to you?" Tyki asked, surprised. "That's rather unimaginative, even for him."

"My favorite's where he threatened to skewer me like a wild boar and hang me over his mantelpiece like a deer's head," Allen said solemnly. Tyki shook his head in clear amusement. "Either way, I really don't think he likes me."

"I wouldn't jump to any conclusions," Tyki advised.

Allen fell silent then, looking back off into the distance. He heard an absent threat thrown from Kanda's lips, and then the sound of a chess piece being moved. He frowned. His eyes darted back over to Tyki, who threw the remains of his cigarette over the balcony railing before moving into a comfortable position. "Did you call Kanda an angel earlier?" he asked sharply.

Tyki looked up at him. "Did I say that?" he asked innocently. "Of course not."

"Yes, you did," Allen insisted. "You called Kanda an angel."

"Angels don't exist, Allen," Tyki said, smiling.

"Why couldn't they?" Allen asked stubbornly. "If things like demons and Incarnations exist, why couldn't angels?"

"Come now, Allen, do you really see Kanda as an angel?"

Well…Allen supposed that that was true. Kanda was to angel as Mother Teresa was to Satan. It just didn't fit. But he was positive about what he'd heard. He nodded after Tyki excused himself and went back inside the castle, leaving the doors open. Allen stayed for a moment as the sun slowly slipped below the horizon. He found the whole thing rather suspicious – it was obvious to him that Tyki was lying. But why would he lie about something like that?

Frowning, he turned around to face the open air. He put his hands out on the balustrade, gripping it tightly. What did it mean…if Kanda was really an angel…but weren't angels supposed to be good? Kanda wasn't really a bad person, but he certainly wasn't joyous or cheerful or full of good will towards men. Perhaps it was time that he paid a visit to the Purgatory Information Center and see what he could learn on the subject.

Nodding to himself, he quietly slipped back inside the room and out the stairs. None of the other three Incarnations even noticed that he was moving. Or so he thought. Out of the corner of his eye, Tyki saw the pale shape move to the stairs and out the door. He smirked; it was so easy to plant the seed. Now all Allen needed was a bit more information. The plan was in motion.

* * *

Allen sat down at the computer desk that comprised the majority of the Purgatory Information Center. The "center" was really just a small, neat building with a couple of rooms – one was an office, and the other was a bathroom. However, it was rather homey; the floors were made of a polished wood and the walls were painted a cheery yellow. There were several potted plants in the room, and bookcases lined the walls. On one wall was the computer desk he was now sitting at, and on the opposite side, a small, navy blue sofa.

As soon as he sat down at the desk, the computer started up, its sensory mechanisms instantly sensing a user. The log-in screen popped up, and Allen chose the icon that represented him – a rather annoying little picture of a skull and crossbones. Instantly, he was logged into the computer system. Instead of logging onto the internet, as he would have on earth, he clicked on the informational database icon at the bottom of the screen. A dark blue program quickly started, and words flashed up on the screen in a small, neat font.

_Hello Thanatos,_ the computer screen read, using the formal name for the Incarnation of Death. _Please use the microphone at the side of the desk to voice your informational inquiry._

Allen grabbed said microphone and brought it closer to his mouth. After checking to make sure that it was on, he leaned forward and said, "I was wondering if you had any information on angels."

More words popped up, underneath which was a list of topics to choose from. The words read, _These are a list of angels as mentioned in literary works on earth. Of course, the majority of these are either fictitious, or based upon human conjectures. Do you wish to search through these, or are you interested in information about actual physical angels as they relate to the Incarnations? _

"The latter, please," Allen iterated into the microphone; well, that proved that Tyki had been lying about the existence of angels. Not that he'd ever expected otherwise. Instantly, the screen cleared, the list of items leaving the monitor only to be replaced by a few more topics of information. There were three different ones this time; one was labeled "Angels and Demons", another was labeled "List of Angels – Instated and Fallen" and a third was labeled "The History of Angels". Not sure of exactly what he wanted, Allen indicated that he was going to read the third topic.

Instantly, a full-blown page that reminded him of an encyclopedia article popped up on the screen. He read the words out loud to make sure that he would remember them. "Angels are often regarded by humans as embodiments of good will towards men. Many religions offer information about their own version of these majestic creatures. However, what is in fact reality is far different from what most humans picture.

"Angels live in the dimension known as Heaven, where the Incarnation of Good dwells. They serve him, and help carry out his wishes on earth. It is important to note, however, that angels do not interfere with the war going on between the Incarnations of Good and Evil. While they go to earth and help humans, they do not interfere in the collection of souls. That is the territory primarily of the Incarnation of Death."

"You don't say," Allen muttered before continuing to read.

"Angels are typically very beautiful creatures in a physical sense. They are not perfect, but to an untrained eye, that is often the conclusion. Personality wise, they are as different as humans themselves are. Angels are not obligated to be kind, however ironic that seems. Kindness is not the same thing as goodness, a fact which humans often overlook. Their power is limited to that of perhaps a lesser Incarnation, but they are still not beings to be trifled with. They are far stronger than any human, and as beings with wings, are free to fly. To the human eye, they are normally invisible unless they are instructed to reveal themselves. The intelligence of angels is a heavily debated point – some feel that angels are smarter than humans, while others believe that while the two have the same raw intelligence, angels are far more wise than humans could ever be."

Allen scrolled a bit down the page, reading bits and pieces as he saw fit. He stopped as a particular paragraph caught his eye. He read it once silently, frowned, and then read it again out loud. "While angels are primarily beings of utmost good, they can become fallen angels if they commit one of the four great sins – Murder, Rape, Theft, or Disobedience. These fallen angels are then given a punishment sentence that lasts between three and five thousand years. During that time period, they are given a special task that, if completed, will forestall their final judgment – being sent to Hell for all eternity. This is extraordinarily shameful for most angels, as the majority of the inhabitants of Hell are humans. However, the task is considered extraordinarily difficult to complete based on the angel's unique personality, therefore being different for each angel."

Allen sat back in his chair. So far, from what he had read, Kanda _could_ technically be an angel. He was physically attractive – even Allen would give him that much. He was also very strong; part of that could have to do with being the Incarnation of War, but Tyki and Lavi certainly weren't as strong as he was, and that tended to make Allen suspicious. As well, Kanda was rather intelligent. Sometimes he didn't act like it, but Allen could tell that Kanda really wasn't stupid.

However…all angels lived in Heaven with God unless they were fulfilling his missions on earth. So if Kanda was an angel…why wasn't he in Heaven? The only explanation would be that he was a fallen angel. But what could Kanda have done that was so bad? Frowning, Allen went back to the previous screen before making another inquiry. "How long has Kanda been the Incarnation of War?"

_Three thousand, five hundred and twenty-six years this August, _the computer responded instantly.

Allen's eyes widened. Kanda was _that _old?! He'd known that the other had been an Incarnation for a long time, as well as being the oldest of the current Incarnations, but he had no idea that old meant three and a half thousand years. He had a bad feeling about this. The information he'd just read had indicated that punishments for fallen angels lasted thousands of years. It seemed plausible that Kanda was an angel – and he had been an Incarnation for, well, thousands of years.

He hesitated when he saw the information topic that was really just a list of angels. He wasn't sure of what he'd find there, though the sinking feeling in his stomach was telling him that it wasn't going to be good. And that brought another point up. Why was he so concerned over whether or not Kanda was a fallen angel? It didn't really concern him; it was none of his business. Sure, Tyki had piqued his curiosity and now he had to find out to sate it. But…did it really matter whether or not Kanda was a fallen angel? For some reason, he wanted to believe that the answer was yes, even though there was no logical explanation behind it.

Sighing, he clicked on the list. Instantly, names and names popped up on the screen. The list of instated angels was first. Allen scrolled through the list of names, searching for the other's name. But it wasn't there. Taking a deep breath, he moved on to the section of fallen angels, which was surprisingly long. He searched the first few columns of names without any luck. But when he came to the third column, on the last row, he stopped. There. There was Kanda's name. Beside it was a letter M. Allen supposed that was the sin that Kanda had committed – Murder.

Quickly, he logged off the computer and stood up, backing away from the chair. He wasn't sure what exactly to think at the moment. Kanda was a fallen angel. He had become fallen after committing murder. He was sure that if he tried, the computer could tell him the exact details of his comrade's crime, but he didn't want to know. He felt as if he'd learned enough, and already felt guilty because he knew Kanda didn't know that he knew. He was going to have to keep the secret of his knowing from Kanda too. He didn't know what would happen if Kanda found out. Their relationship was tenuous enough, and it had just started stabilizing – minutely, of course, but still, stabilizing. He didn't want to strain anything just yet.

So with another sigh, he set off for his own house to get some much needed sleep.

* * *

"What did you tell Allen that had him running off like that to the PIC?" Lavi asked, looking over at his lover from across the room. He was sprawled out on the bed, wearing only a pair of thin pajama bottoms, yet Tyki was still fully clothed and sitting at a nearby table, writing some things down. It was rather annoying. He was feeling somewhat playful tonight.

"You noticed that, did you?" Tyki asked, not looking up from his writing.

"Tyki," Lavi whined, drawing out his lover's name. "Tell me!"

"I didn't tell him anything of importance," Tyki replied casually.

"You did too," Lavi persisted.

"Well…I might have…let it slip, shall we say, that Kanda is really an angel," Tyki replied after a moment of silence. He set his pen down and set the pieces of paper inside a leather folder. Looking up at Lavi, his gaze was thoughtful.

"And why would you do that?" Lavi asked, blinking.

Tyki stood up with a chuckle, removing his shirt and pants and changing into his night clothes. Lavi watched every move that his lover made – it wasn't every night that he got to really study the other man's physique. A lot of times it was just rip-the-clothes-off, get-into-bed and get-busy. And after that, he was so zonked that he normally just fell asleep. "No particular reason."

"You must've had a reason," Lavi said, flipping over onto his back and staring at the ceiling of their shared room. "You don't do things without a reason. You're manipulative that way."

"You like it," Tyki said suavely, coming over to sit on the bed beside the red-head. He grinned down somewhat predatorily at Lavi.

"Right you are about that," Lavi said, grinning. "But what are you planning? Are you trying to play matchmaker?"

"Not this time," Tyki said, reaching down to play with a strand of fiery red hair. He twirled it between his fingers, making it curl. "Call it a hunch, but I believe that this time, things will work out for the better on their own."

"You think he'll fall for Allen?" Lavi unconsciously leant into his lover's touch.

"There's a definite possibility," Tyki replied. "That child is different from anybody I've ever met. If anybody could grow to love a cold-hearted bastard like Kanda, it's Allen Walker."

Lavi caught Tyki's hand as it made to re-curl the strand of hair in his hands and entwined it with his own. "I like Allen," he said simply. "He's a nice kid."

"I don't think you should take him at face value," Tyki said, leaning back against the headboard. "There's something about him that doesn't meet the eye…"

"You think he's done something bad?" Lavi asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I think he's got some definite history," Tyki said, not quite answering the question.

"Hmm…" Lavi said, frowning. "I suppose I could always ask the old man if he knows anything." He snorted. "Probably does. That old panda's got tabs on everybody."

"Everybody worth keeping tabs on," Tyki corrected.

"Whatever," Lavi sighed. "I just hope Yuu doesn't kill him before he gets a chance to fall in love."

"Allen you mean?"

"Well, he's certainly not going to fall for Bookman," Lavi replied, shuddering. "That would be _weird." _

Tyki chuckled. "Weirder than the two of us together?" he asked, leaning down to kiss his lover's ear.

Lavi squirmed at the ticklish sensation. "We're not weird together," he said. "We're amazing."

"Oh, believe me, I know," Tyki said, moving to bring their lips together. "I know."

* * *

Allen snuck a glance at Kanda from across the table. It had been another week or so since he'd found out that Kanda was really a fallen angel. Since then, he'd managed to keep it from Kanda that he knew of the other's past. But he had to admit – even if he didn't talk about it with anyone else, he found himself thinking about it all the time. What exactly had Kanda done? What was his punishment? What did he have to do in order to be saved?

Surprisingly, he found himself at ease around the man, despite the fact that he was a convicted murderer. The thought didn't bother him. Perhaps it was because he'd always known Kanda could – and probably would, if given half a chance – squash him like a bug. Or maybe it was because Kanda had already shoved a sword through his chest without him obtaining an injury. Not to mention the knives. Or the time when Kanda had gotten annoyed at him and thrown an axe through his head. Talk about an uncomfortable feeling.

"Quit staring."

Allen jumped at the sudden, harsh voice. He blinked at Kanda, but the other was still poring over his maps, charting the course of the wars he was directing. "What?" he asked quietly.

"You heard me," Kanda snapped. "Quit staring at me. I know you're stupid, but you should try to at least be able to keep yourself occupied for ten minutes without dozing off."

Allen frowned. "I wasn't staring at you," he muttered.

"Oh?" Kanda snorted. "And what were you staring at then? The area in my general vicinity?"

"No," Allen said belligerently. "Why would I stare at you?"

"Beats the hell out of me," Kanda replied. "It's fucking creepy."

"I'm not creepy!"

"Bullshit," Kanda snapped back. "You have fucking white hair, that retarded scar on your face, and weird colored eyes. Not to mention you look like you're twelve and haven't even had your balls drop yet. And what the fuck is up with the way you dress? This isn't Victorian England, moron."

Allen flushed at the criticisms, but didn't say anything in response. He didn't trust himself to not reveal his secret; anger wasn't a good thing with dealing with secrets. So he looked back down at the book he was reading, something Lavi had recommended to him to help with becoming an Incarnation. It was a history of their duties, as well as an explanation of exactly what they all were expected to do.

"Che, did I hurt your feelings?" Kanda asked mockingly, looking up from his maps.

"No," Allen said quietly. "It's nothing that hasn't been said before." That was true at least. He hadn't exactly been the most popular kid in school. In fact, he was one of the most bullied, just because he'd looked different. He'd dealt with it, and had learned the best ways to avoid mean people. But what he hated the most were the sympathetic looks. He didn't want to be pitied. He just wanted to be accepted.

"You sound like you're about ready to cry," Kanda pointed out.

"Well, I'm not," Allen said honestly. "I just wish that people could come up with something more original when they want to insult me. They all say the same things."

"All?" Kanda repeated.

"I didn't have any friends back on earth," Allen clarified. "I wasn't well liked. People thought I looked like a freak, a monster. Those that didn't bully me avoided me. But they all said the same things that you did. They mention the hair, the scar, sometimes the eyes…honestly, no creativity."

"You didn't have any friends?"

"No," Allen replied, flipping a page. "To be honest, I still don't. Not really. But at least here people will talk to me and look me in the eyes. Everyone else just kind of stared at my chest."

"Che, maybe they mistook you for a girl and were looking for breasts," Kanda snorted.

"Or maybe they just didn't want to look at my ugly face," Allen said, moving on to the insult he was sure Kanda would thrown out next. When Kanda shot him a surprised look, he frowned. "What? Isn't that what you were going to say next?"

"I've never called you ugly," Kanda pointed out.

Allen blinked. Now that the other mentioned it…he supposed that was true. Kanda had never outright said that he was ugly. Of course, he was sure that the other _thought _it. But verbally, no, it had never been expressed. "You might as well have," Allen said, standing up. He quietly moved over to a nearby bookcase and returned his book to its rightful place. He wasn't going to get any more reading done today.

"Moyashi…" Allen turned around at the other's voice. "You're not ugly. Stupid, yes, but not ugly."

Allen laughed outright at that. "Oh yes, Kanda, I'm not ugly, but I'm creepy and stupid," he said bitterly. "That's _so_ much better."

"You're the one who was staring at me."

"For the last time, I was not staring at you!" Allen said, his temper quickly rising.

"Your eyes were focused on me and you weren't doing anything else," Kanda said, glaring at him. "That is the definition of a stare. If you don't believe me, you can go and fucking look it up in a dictionary. I'm sure there's one around here somewhere."

"I wasn't staring at you!"

"Che, saying the same thing over and over again is a horrible argument."

"What is your problem today?" Allen asked.

"I could ask the same of you," Kanda said, appraising him. "You're in a pissy mood today."

"It's not my fault that I'm trying not to –" Allen stopped, catching himself. He forced his mouth shut, embarrassed and slightly scared that he'd almost admitted his secret. He berated himself mentally for getting so worked up. This was why you didn't get into arguments when you had secrets! They always came out at the worst possible times!

"What was that?" Kanda asked, eyes narrowing.

"Nothing," Allen said, turning to leave the room.

"You're lying."

Allen stopped at the doorway. Without looking back, he replied, "And what of it?"

Kanda didn't have a response to that, so he walked out the door.

* * *

Kanda shoved Tyki up against the wall, Mugen at the other's throat. "What did you tell him?" he demanded roughly. "I saw you take him on the balcony the other day. What did you say?"

Tyki frowned down at him, waving his hands in a gesture of innocence. "I didn't tell him anything," he said. "We talked about the sunset."

As much of a fruitcake as this guy was, Kanda wasn't inclined to believe that statement. "He's been acting differently around me all week. What did you tell him?" He paused, his eyes darkening dangerously with understanding. "Did you tell him _that?" _

"I didn't say anything," Tyki repeated, more firmly this time. "Everyone has down periods, Kanda. He's new to this. He's just going through a phase."

Kanda eyed him warily, but released him anyways, sheathing his sword. "For your sake, you had better be telling the truth," he said, stepping away and then striding furiously back down the hall.

He couldn't explain it. The brat had been acting so strangely lately. He would sneak furtive glances at Kanda when he thought he wasn't looking. He wouldn't argue back; banter, yes, argue, no. But best of all, he wouldn't look Kanda in the eye. He always kept his eyes chest-level; sometimes, those silver orbs wouldn't even get off the ground. And he didn't know why. It was so very frustrating to him. He was used to his subordinates scheming around him. But they kept repeating their innocence. He wasn't sure what to believe.

But he intended to get to the bottom of this, and get to it quickly.

* * *

Yes, yes. Secrets, secrets are no fun, secrets are for everyone!!

Lol, did anyone else ever have that song shoved in their face as a kid? God knows I did. Anyways, thanks for taking the time to read this, and don't forget to review!! If you're so inclined, of course :3


	7. Chapter 7

First off, I'd like to apologize with how long this has taken me to get out. It's been over a month. I fully understand that. And I hate it. I've been so damn busy with my senior year, sifting through millions and millions of pounds of useless paper/letters/propaganda about colleges, actually filling out those college applications, my cross country practices/meets and all in all just general crap. I've really tried. I've just had to actually write a lot more than usual since I'm in AP classes, so all my creative juice is tapped out when I get home. But hopefully it'll get better soon. I think it will, now that I'm getting more used to the schedule.

But things have been looking up recently. We just had fall break. And even though all we got was a lousy two days (when the public school gets a fucking WEEK :P), it was amazing. We didn't have a meet. I got to go to King's Island. I got a boyfriend. And I had no homework. That's some sweet action right there, baby.

Anyways, here is the next chapter. This is not beta-ed yet. I seriously just wanted to get it out because I felt bad for not having uploaded it sooner. Again, so sorry about that!! So I'll reupload the edited version when it's finished.

**EDIT, 10.7.09 - Edited version, betaed by Dr. Composed, uploaded. **

Thanks for all the reviews/faves/alerts!! You guys are the best!!

* * *

Kanda forced his way through the door, ignoring the spluttering of the beansprout's retarded butler. He turned a dark glare to the man, who he instantly shut up, cowering away. He looked around then, but didn't see any sign of the person he was looking for – namely a five-foot-six snipe of a brat named Allen Walker. Peering around, Kanda walked over to the staircase that he knew led to the personal bedroom of the Incarnation of Death. As he crested the stairs and started down a hallway, he began to hear the sound of splashing. He paused, and then continued. What did he care if the idiot was taking a bath? He had business to attend to. And besides, it wasn't anything he hadn't seen before, and Kanda was not scared of no penis.

The door to the bedroom was open, and Kanda walked in, surveying the room yet again. After hearing the water, he wasn't expecting the brat to be in this room – but it never hurt to have a look around, see how it had changed since he had last been here. The new Incarnation seemed to like things tidy: all the clothes were folded neatly to the side of the room, and everything was in its proper location. Even the shoes were lined up by the side of the room in a startlingly straight line.

He didn't quite know what to think of that. But it wasn't important at the moment. After his momentary pause, he proceeded to storm into the bathroom, flinging the door wide open. Sure enough, there in the tub, covered in soap suds, was Allen. He looked up, bewildered, and then flushed wildly, grabbing a spare towel and instantly using it to cover himself.

"Kanda!" he exclaimed, scowling. "What the hell?!"

Kanda angrily closed the door behind him, flipping the lock shut. Allen tensed at that, obviously not sure of what was going on.

"What are you doing?" Allen asked this time, unconsciously pulling the towel tighter around his small frame.

Kanda stared down at him. He'd never really seen the kid without a shirt on. Of course he'd noticed the constant long sleeves, and the gloves. He'd always thought that Allen was just weird. He had never realized that the other had a…a…well, he supposed a deformity was the only accurate way to put it. His left arm was completely black, as if he'd dipped it in an ink well. And the fingers…they were crooked and disjointed, like they were marred by arthritis. He studied the features for a few moments before looking up at the other, surprised to find a mortified and slightly dejected expression on that pale face.

"What's your problem?" he asked bluntly, moving to lean against the sink.

"Shut up," Allen muttered weakly, reaching up to run a hand through his hair. "And shouldn't I be the one asking you that?"

"Che," Kanda snorted. "I had a question."

"And it couldn't have waited?" Allen asked, sighing. "Honestly, Kanda, I'm in the bath for Pete's sake!"

"Who's Pete?" Kanda asked, frowning.

"It's just a phrase," Allen muttered. He sighed. "Alright then, just ask your question please and leave so this rather awkward situation won't last longer than it absolutely has to."

"What's with your arm?"

Kanda noticed the instant tensing of muscles, the freezing of facial features; but then they were carefully smoothed over and the tension released. Allen stared up at him, face blank. "I don't know," he replied easily.

"What do you mean, you don't know?" Kanda asked, eyes narrowing.

"It's some kind of birth defect," Allen said, shrugging. "I wasn't wealthy enough as a child to ever have it properly diagnosed. But so far there don't seem to be any ill effects other than residual stiffness, so I think I'm relatively safe for the moment."

"Why do you hide it?"

"Because it's ugly," Allen replied softly after a moment. "It's hideous and strange, and not something anyone wants to look at. It's just easier this way."

Kanda stared. How…how incredibly stupid! Did this brat honestly think that any of the Incarnations cared about his physical appearance? With Lenalee's constant shapeshifting and Miranda's living backwards and Anita's three-in-one combo pack, nothing would surprise any of them now. They were all freaks, in a sense. So what was the big deal? "Idiot," Kanda snorted.

Allen glared up at him. "Don't say that like you know how it feels," he said. "What would you know of being ostracized?"

"I don't care what others think of me," Kanda reminded him bluntly.

"Of course not!" Allen said, sighing. "And why would you? You're perfect!"

"Perfect?" Kanda repeated, raising an eyebrow. "Even I'll admit I'm not perfect, Moyashi."

"Physically speaking, you're perfect!" Allen continued. "Why wouldn't you be? You're an an-" He stopped suddenly, snapping his mouth shut. His eyes widened and he looked back down at his lap. "Did that answer your question?" he asked instead, his hair hanging down to partially conceal his face.

Kanda leaned forward then, eyes intent. There. That was it. That was what Allen was hiding from him. And dammit, he'd almost gotten the brat to admit to him what the problem was! But oh, no, he wasn't letting it go now. Not a chance. "I'm a what?" he asked quietly. "What am I, Moyashi?"

"Nothing," Allen mumbled.

"I'm afraid I didn't catch that pathetically quiet attempt at a word," Kanda snapped.

"Nothing!" Allen repeated, more vehemently this time.

Kanda reached forward then and grabbed Allen by the chin, forcing his face up. Allen's eyes widened in surprise. "It wasn't nothing," Kanda said, his voice low. "Now tell me what you were about to say."

Allen shook his head as best as he could, given the amount of mobility Kanda was allowing him.

"I'm not going to tell you again, brat," Kanda said dangerously. "Now tell me what you said!"

"You're an angel!" Allen finally blurted out, cheeks flushing slightly. Kanda blinked at him. Well. It was strange; he'd known that Allen had known, somewhere deep inside him. But it was completely different to hear something confirmed out loud than to confirm it in one's mind. "Well, a fallen angel, really."

"And how do you know that?"

"I…I looked it up in the PIC," Allen admitted guiltily, sounding as if he were confessing a crime.

"Why?"

"I…"

"Who was it?" Kanda demanded. Allen frowned slightly in confusion. "Was it the rabbit? Or his fuckbuddy? Tell me, you moron, who was it that gave you the hint? Because as easy as it would make things, I don't think you're intelligent enough to figure it out on your own."

Allen flushed at the criticism. "It was just something Tyki said," he admitted.

"I knew it," Kanda muttered, more to himself than to Allen. That bastard was _so _dead.

"He didn't mean it," Allen said quickly, defending his comrade. "It just slipped out."

"That's completely irrelevant," Kanda snapped.

For a moment, a tense silence filled the room. Still held fast in Kanda's grip, Allen looked down, unable to meet that intense dark blue gaze. Kanda, for his part, didn't even realize that he was still holding on to the soft skin of Allen's chin. Neither of them moved or said anything until the silence had dragged on to an unbearable level.

"I'm sorry," Allen finally mumbled. Kanda – who had been somewhat in a daze of thought – immediately drew his gaze back to the other's face. Of course, Allen was still refusing to meet his eyes; he must have really felt guilty then. "I…I should've…I don't know. I shouldn't have hid it from you."

Kanda paused, and then snorted once he had processed what the idiot had said. He released his hold on Allen and sat back, crossing his arms over his chest. "Che, you shouldn't have meddled at all," he said gruffly. "It was none of your business."

"I know," Allen replied. "That's why I'm apologizing."

Kanda studied him for a moment, from the downcast gaze to the clear regret in those clear gray eyes. And then he rolled his eyes. "For fuck's sake, Moyashi, don't give me that look," he snapped. "So you know. It's not the end of the fucking world. Just don't go around blabbing it to people."

"Who would I tell?" Allen asked, frowning. Finally, he looked up at Kanda, a confused look on his face.

Kanda shot him a glare. "Just don't talk about it to anyone," he said sharply. "Or else."

Allen stared at him for a moment, and then nodded. Silence again resumed.

"…So…Kanda…"

"What?"

"Can you get out of my bathroom now?"

* * *

Lavi dramatically huffed as he dropped the immense stack of books and papers of papers on the desk. Tyki blinked and looked up at the red-head, absently pulling the cigarette out of his mouth. "What are those?" he asked, frowning.

"This," Lavi said, patting the top book dramatically, "represents my life for the next two weeks."

Tyki raised an eyebrow. "Oh, do tell."

Lavi stood up then, slumping over to where Tyki was sitting and slumping down into his lap, throwing an arm haphazardly around the back of the chair. "So, I went and visited the old man," he started, grinning up at his lover with a devious twinkle in his eyes. "And this – this glorious stack of literature – is the fruit of my labor. All of these pertain to our young friend Allen Walker."

"_All_ of these?"

"Affirmative," Lavi said, nodding. He wiggled around a bit to get more comfortable. "I know, I know. Surprised me too." He sighed. "Apparently, the Moyashi has got quite a history."

"Have you looked at anything yet?" Tyki asked, moving a free hand around Lavi's lower back as he put the cigarette back in his mouth.

Lavi shot him an offended look. "I had to carry that shit all the way up those stairs because Yuu Yuu refuses to get an elevator," he said defensively. "I'm exhausted! What makes you think I've even cracked one of these things open?"

"Well, you're quite good at multi-tasking," Tyki said languorously, leaning down to give a light kiss to the delicate skin connecting cheek to ear.

Lavi smirked. "That I am," he agreed, tilting his neck a bit to get the other more room to operate. "So now that we have all this delightful information…what should we do with it?"

"What else?" Tyki murmured, his lips moving against Lavi's skin, making the latter shiver. "We'll read them eventually, find out what's going on, and then take it from there. We're men of action after all." His words finished, he then bit down lightly on an earlobe.

"Oh, yes," Lavi said, letting his eyes slide closed. "Regular action heroes."

"They should make action figures of us."

Lavi brought a hand up to his lover's head, moving his fingers through that dark hair. "Heh, action figures, eh?" he repeated. "That sounds nice." His breath hitched when Tyki trailed his tongue down Lavi's neck to his collarbone, sucking on it hard enough to leave a mark. "But something else sounds even nicer right now."

He felt the pair of sensuous lips smirk against his skin. "I think you just read my mind."

"I'm a man of many talents."

"Oh, baby, I know."

* * *

Allen wasn't exactly sure what to think. It had been several days since Kanda had accosted him in his own bathroom. And yet…nothing had happened. For a while, he had been sure that he was going to end up on the receiving end of Kanda's wrath. But the other Incarnation had chosen to do nothing. It was as if nothing had happened between them. Kanda wasn't ignoring him; rather, he seemed to be ignoring the incident altogether.

At the moment, they were both sitting in the library of Kanda's castle, working out battle plans for an upcoming war in South America. But Allen couldn't concentrate. He was too busy focusing on the other man in the room. Why hadn't Kanda yelled at him? Why wasn't Kanda mad at him for snooping into his past? Why hadn't he tried to physically harm him? After all, violence seemed to be Kanda's MO. So why had nothing violent happened? And another thing still bothered him – his arm. Kanda hadn't mentioned it. And since Lavi and Tyki hadn't said anything, it didn't seem as if he'd spoken about it to anyone else either. He hadn't really expected it; after all, Kanda wasn't much of a blabbermouth.

"I said it once before, Moyashi, quit staring at me," Kanda suddenly snapped, picking up a pencil from a try at the side of his worktable. Allen jumped a bit at the voice, blinking up at the Incarnation of War dazedly. "It's fucking creepy."

Allen muttered something incomprehensible.

"What was that?"

"Sorry," Allen repeated in a louder tone. He looked back down at the list of names he was supposed to be reviewing. He wasn't getting much accomplished however. He had too much on his mind.

"What the fuck's the matter with you?" Kanda asked then.

Allen frowned up at him. The other slowly put the pencil back down in the tray, having drawn a line that connected two major cities in Venezuela. "It's just…" he trailed off, sighing. "Nothing," he finally said, running a hand through his hair.

"If it was nothing, you wouldn't look like you'd been asked to find the meaning of life," Kanda snorted. "So stop lying. You're a horrible liar, by the way."

"Oh, thank you so much for that wonderful tidbit of information," Allen said sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

"I don't need your sarcasm," Kanda snapped, eyes narrowing.

"Well, you got it."

"Hmph." Kanda picked up his pencil again and resumed his drawing, using the compass in his right hand to make sure that he got everything right. After all, location was everything. Allen looked back down at the list in his lap. For several moments, he stared at the paper, as if it would suddenly grow ten times more interesting. But it didn't. So he sighed again and folded it in half, setting it on a nearby table.

"Why aren't you mad at me?" he finally asked, unable to keep the question from coming out of his mouth.

Kanda looked up at him. "What are you babbling on about now?" he asked, sounding irritated.

"I know that you're…that you're a fallen angel," Allen explained slowly. "It doesn't seem like something you'd want going around."

The other snorted at that, to Allen's surprise. "Neither does your fucking arm," Kanda reminded him, making Allen flush a bit. "And you don't see me going around blabbing about that."

"That's different," Allen said, shaking his head a bit. "My arm…it's ugly, yes, but it's something I can live with. You…I don't know. It's hard to explain."

"What?" Kanda smirked, setting his pencil down for the second time that night. "Unsettling?"

"It's not that," Allen replied. "Mine is just a physical thing. I can hide it and no one can see it. Yours goes beyond just the physical, I'm assuming."

Kanda stood up straight then, flicking his head back a bit so that his long ponytail straightened itself out. "Why does this matter so much to you?" he asked quietly. "It's not a big deal."

Allen blinked up at him, and then frowned. "How is it not a big deal?" he asked. "You used to be an angel. What…what happened?" His eyes widened upon realizing what he had just asked. "Never mind," he said quickly, "You don't have to tell me. I shouldn't pry." He looked down at his lap, a bit embarrassed.

For a moment, Kanda didn't respond to any of his previous statements. When he did, it wasn't quite what Allen was expecting. "Being an angel isn't all that great." He looked up; Kanda was looking off to the side now, a distant look in his eyes. "Obeying the whims of a god who doesn't want to interfere in the affairs of the world because he's determined to stick to the rules…che, what an idiot. Everything's fair in love and war."

"Shakespeare?" Allen asked, frowning. "Really?"

"Shakespeare?" Kanda repeated scathingly, turning his head just enough to glare at Allen. "Who the fuck is Shakespeare?"

"You don't…never mind," Allen said, sighing. "You wouldn't get it."

"Whatever," Kanda said. "There are too many rules in heaven for my liking. For the angels, in any case. I don't know what the humans experience, though they seem happy enough."

"You're not human?" Allen asked, surprised.

"Angel," Kanda reminded him, rolling his eyes. "I hate humans."

Allen squirmed uncomfortably at the indirect admission of hatred. For some reason, he didn't want Kanda to hate him. Maybe it was because the two of them worked together. Maybe it was because he just hated it when people disliked him. Or perhaps it was just because the two of them both seemed to have their own personal problems that they didn't want the world to see. After all, there was much more wrong with him than his just his arm.

"Then did you just leave?" Allen asked quietly.

"Leave?" Kanda snorted. "You can't just walk out of heaven, shithead."

"Well, I don't know these things," Allen said defensively. "I've never been there."

"The only way to get out of heaven is to commit one of the four great sins," Kanda continued. By now he had turned completely around, so that his back was facing Allen. Allen wasn't sure exactly why the other was doing that, but he didn't question it.

"The four great sins?" Allen prompted when the other fell silent. He already knew what those sins were thanks to the PIC, but he wanted to see if Kanda would tell him which one he had committed – though he a sinking suspicion that he already knew exactly which one it had been.

"Murder, Rape, Theft and Disobedience," Kanda intoned quietly. "The four sins judged to be greater than all others."

"I thought the Bible taught that all sins are equal," Allen said flatly. Or at least, that was what they had taught him in Sunday School.

"For humans," Kanda informed him. "Angels aren't humans, and we never were. We have different rules." He paused for a moment before continuing. "There are many sins to commit, but those four are judged to be the worst. Committing any one of those, and getting caught, will get you kicked out faster than you can blink."

"I wonder why Disobedience is up there so high," Allen said contemplatively. After all, disobedience seemed like a minor thing compared to things such as murder or rape.

"Che," Kanda snorted. "Think about it, Moyashi. It's one thing to disobey a lesser authority like your parents or your teacher. It's another thing entirely to disobey God."

"I suppose," Allen said, "but I've never been very religious myself."

"Then it's about time you start," Kanda "If you don't, you're royally fucked."

Allen rolled his eyes. "Oh, how beautifully you phrase your words."

Kanda shot him a glare over his shoulder. "If you're going to keep saying shit like that, you can go back to your own fucking castle," he said menacingly. "I don't need your help that much."

"Actually, you kind of do," Allen murmured, but Kanda couldn't hear him. He made sure of that. In the silence that followed, Kanda walked over to a nearby bookcase, retrieving a book of what appeared to be more maps and brought it back to his work station. Allen watched him work for a moment before taking a chance to ask his question. "Kanda…what sin did you commit to get kicked out of heaven?"

The other man's slender fingers went slack on the pen he was holding. He didn't look at Allen; instead, his eyes remained focused on the page. "I think the answer to that is rather obvious, Moyashi," he said, his voice surprisingly soft.

"Maybe to you. Not to me."

"Then you're blind."

* * *

"Murder."

Lavi read the word with surprise, staring down at the book in his hands. He just couldn't believe it. Perhaps he'd read it wrong. But after studying the paragraph for another couple of minutes, it was clear that he hadn't misread a word and that there was no other possible context. He frowned. "It just doesn't make sense," he muttered to himself.

"What doesn't make sense?" Tyki asked from across the room.

Lavi looked up; his lover was busy calculating damage reports for the newest war Kanda was planning. They each had to come up with a preliminary report and submit it to Kanda before the war could begin, that way the Incarnation of War knew what they were doing. Technically, that was what Lavi himself should've been doing. But at the moment, he just couldn't be bothered.

"Does Allen seem like a murderer to you?" Lavi asked.

"Not particularly, no," Tyki replied. "Why?"

"It's in his file," Lavi said slowly, looking back down at the page from which he'd been reading. "So it has to be true. The files don't lie."

"Never?"

"Never," Lavi confirmed with a nod.

"What were the circumstances of the murder?" Tyki asked, looking up. He pushed his reading glasses up from where they'd fallen to the tip of his nose.

"Ah, let's see…" Lavi said, scanning the page for the right section. "Ah, here we go. Murder, committed by Allen Walker at age twelve. Victim, Mana Walker, age unknown." He continued to scan the page, looking for more details. But his search turned out to be mainly inconclusive. "Eh, the whole thing's pretty sketchy, Tyki," he said, sighing. "It mentions something about the guy getting hit by a car, but nothing seems definitive. Guess that's why Allen wasn't in jail, eh?"

"If he was hit by a car, why is it considered murder?" Tyki asked thoughtfully, staring at the patch of wall ahead of him. "That doesn't make any sense…"

"Well, I suppose…if Allen pushed him, it would be murder…" Lavi said slowly. "But that doesn't seem like our little Moyashi-chan. He wouldn't hurt a fly!"

"And you're sure that the file's correct?"

Lavi snorted. "If it wasn't, the old Panda would tan my hide!" he said. When Tyki stared back at him blankly, he sighed. "Yes, I'm sure."

"Well is there anything else worth commenting on?"

"I dunno," Lavi said, throwing the file down on the desk before him. "I haven't really looked all that hard."

"There has to be something else there," Tyki said, going back to his report.

"I know," Lavi replied quietly. "I'm just not sure what to do when I find it."

* * *

Allen sighed and set down the papers in his hands before rubbing his eyes. He was so tired. It was late at night, and he should've been in bed hours ago. But he had to finish reading these documents that Kanda had given him, or he wouldn't be prepared for the battle tomorrow. And he'd learned very quickly that it was best to just go along with whatever the violent Incarnation had planned; improvisation was not very high on Kanda's good list.

He looked up when there was a knock at his door. Krory was standing there nervously. "Yes?" he asked, smiling softly.

"I'm sorry to bother you at such a late hour, Master Walker," the butler said, stuttering a bit in his anxiety. "But there is someone here to see you. They are very persistent."

"Really?" Allen asked, frowning. He doubted that it was someone he knew. Kanda or Lavi would've just burst into his room with no regard for the poor butler at all. Lenalee would probably knock, but still barge in without a care in the world. That left someone that he didn't know. "Who is it?"

"I…well…perhaps it would be best if you just came for yourself, Master Walker," Krory said noncommittally.

This response made Allen curious. He noticed then that Krory wasn't just nervous – he was scared. He was actually frightened; this wasn't just normal anxiety. He suddenly didn't have a very good feeling about this meeting. "I'll be down in a minute," he said finally.

"Ah, good! He's in the main living room." Krory gave him a weak smile before exiting the room.

Perplexed, Allen stood up and pulled a jacket on over his light undershirt. After all, it wasn't really appropriate to visit your guests in your pajamas, no matter how impromptu those guests were. Once finished, he walked out of his room and down the hall to the stairs before making his way to the living room. Krory gave him another rather weak smile as he entered the room. He still didn't understand what the other was so nervous about. It wasn't as if the sky was fall-

He stopped then, his blood freezing in his veins. If he'd been holding anything, it would have fallen from his slack hands as everything in the background seemed to fade out of existence. His eyes narrowed on that figure sitting on a sofa across the room. And no other thought passed through his mind other than an intense desire to run, far away, and never come back. He had never even seen this person before, and he already felt that instinct acutely. Oh, this couldn't be good.

Because the Millennium Earl was sitting in his living room.

* * *

Sorry again for any mistakes!! Edited version to come!!

Don't forget to review =D !!


	8. Chapter 8

Wow.

It has seriously been way too long. If you didn't see it somewhere else (and why would you have, haha...?) I had major writer's block. And not like small writer's block. Like MAJOR P. PANTS writer's block. It was awful. I couldn't write anything. Not fanfiction. Not fiction. Not even school papers haha. It was terrible. But, the storm has passed and I found my muses again :)

So hopefully you guys remember me, eh? Haha, I have to say you guys constant reviews and pleas to update were a big part of what motivated me to kick myself in the pants. So thanks :) This chapter is more serious, but needed to move the plot along. Because I want to finish this story by summer's end hopefully, haha. There was a lot going on in my life previously, but now it's summer, I have no life again haha, and am ready to get some serious writing done :) So if you tried talking to me or something and I didn't respond, I am sorry. I was just super busy what with graduation and finalizing college plans. But I'm all ears now :)

This chapter isn't beta-ed. Maybe later, haha. I figured I'd just go ahead and give this to you guys :)

* * *

Allen blinked. To say that he was surprised would be an understatement. A vast understatement. One as big as the fucking Hoover Dam. And it wasn't just that he was shocked to see the Millennium Earl – the sworn enemy of the Incarnations, and he supposed, humanity – sitting on his couch and sipping a cup of Earl Grey. What was even more surprising about this man was his appearance. Somehow, Allen had conjured up an image in his mind of a powerful, commanding man; he was tall and muscular, handsome but with a slightly mysterious, dark and brooding aura about him. Not a fat man with Harry Potter glasses and what looked to be a bad case of acromegaly.

"Ah, Allen Walker, my dear boy, come on in and have a seat," the Earl said brightly, beckoning the shocked Allen into the living room. Allen frowned at that; who was this guy to invite him into his own living room? How presumptuous. Still, he walked forward and took a seat on an opposite chair, eyeing the other warily.

"Not to seem impolite," Allen ventured when the Earl fell silent, "but what exactly are you doing here?"

The Earl chuckled, as if he'd said something terribly funny. "Well, son, I figured that I'd stop in for a visit, seeing as how you've settled nicely into your new role as the Incarnation of Death," he said.

"A visit?" Allen repeated. "No offense meant, but why would you be visiting me? I thought we were enemies."

The Earl took a sip of his tea; he stuck his pinky finger out as he did so. Well, it seemed that even the Earl had seen an episode of Spongebob or two – when in doubt, pinky out! "It doesn't have to be that way," the Earl said, his eyes flashing over the rims of his glasses.

"They've told me about you," Allen continued. "You're not to be trusted. We're enemies; they've all said so."

"Who?"

Allen blinked. "The other Incarnations," he replied without thinking.

The Earl sighed and set down his cup of tea. He looked up at Allen with a sad expression on his face. "It's a pity they've put such lies into your head, my boy," he said. He stood up suddenly and walked across the room, examining something above the mantelpiece. "I'm not here to hurt you. I'm here to help you."

"Help me?"

"Yes, yes, help you. You see, of all the Incarnations, you and I are the most alike in what we do," the Earl explained, looking back over his shoulder to give Allen a maniacal grin. "We both deal with souls and death. It would make sense for us to work together, right?"

"Perhaps," Allen answered noncommittally.

"All of the other Incarnations just want you to think that I'm your enemy," the man continued. "They're jealous."

"What is there to be jealous of?" Allen asked. "They've all got powers and such."

"Yes, but yours deal with life and death, the greatest of powers," the Earl said, turning around again to face Allen. "You have power over them because even they have souls. You can kill them."

Allen felt his blood run cold at the menacing tone in the other's voice. He didn't like the thought that he had so much power at his fingertips. It wasn't right, or ethical. "I don't want that kind of power," he said slowly. "I never asked for it."

"You didn't have to ask for it!" the other said, laughing. "You have it!"

"That doesn't mean I have any right to abuse it," Allen persisted stubbornly. He really wanted this man to leave – now. But he didn't want to seem rude, and then risk the Earl getting mad at him. He got the impression that this wasn't a person he wanted to infuriate.

The Earl sighed and looked down at his tea wistfully. "Allen, my boy, it seems you still have much to learn," he said. "Power is given in order to be abused. Those who don't use their power get it stolen from them. And the other Incarnations…they are…envious of you. You can't afford to let them think that you're weak."

"Jealous?" Allen asked. "I still don't understand what there is to be jealous of. We all have powers, and none of us can do what the others can. I don't think they want what I can do. It's not the most entertaining job out there, you know."

"Your abilities," the Earl replied. "As I've already said, you are their superior."

"I don't see it that way," Allen said, shaking his head.

The Earl opened his mouth to reply, but the sound of a door being flung open stopped him. Allen jumped in surprise and looked over wildly to the door. Kanda walked in then, his normal scowl falling into a downright glare when he saw the Earl standing there. He put a hand on his sword almost involuntarily. "What the fuck are you doing here?" he demanded.

"Why, Master Kanda, a pleasure as always," the Earl said, smiling deviously.

"Answer the question," Kanda snapped.

The Earl blinked. "And what question was that?" he asked innocently. "You must learn to speak in a normal tone of voice, my boy, and not growl at people so often."

"What the fuck are you doing here?" Kanda repeated, his words lined with an icy precision.

"Oh, I was just visiting young Allen here," the Earl said, walking towards the door, "getting him up to date on certain…things. But I think that I've really outstayed my welcome. I must be going." He looked back over his shoulder and gave Allen a malevolent look that betrayed his charming, grandfatherly words. "Thank you for the tea, my boy. You have excellent taste."

"Of course he does, he's British," Kanda snapped as the Earl walked out of the room. His gaze turned to Allen; the younger flinched under the intensity of the gaze, but Kanda didn't speak until they both heard the front door open and then slam shut again. "What the fuck was that, Moyashi?"

"Kanda, I can explain-"

"You had the fucking Millennium Earl in your living room!"

"If you'd just give me one minute-"

"Tell me what the fuck you're doing!"

"If you'd just stop shouting and give me a damn minute to explain myself, I would!" Allen snapped, frustrated that the other wasn't even giving him the chance to speak. "Bloody hell…"

Kanda glared at him, but moved into the room and settled into the chair across from Allen. "Fine," he snapped. "Speak."

"I'm not a dog," Allen retorted.

"Could've fooled me, bitch."

Allen rolled his eyes. "You're so crude," he muttered.

"Thanks for the update," Kanda said, rolling his eyes. "Now get on with it."

Allen sighed. "I didn't invite him here," he said quietly, running a hand through his hair. "I was finishing up those documents you gave me about the battle tomorrow. After I was done, I headed upstairs to my room to get some sleep, but Krory told me there was someone in my living room. It would've been rude to send them away."

Kanda snorted. "It's the fucking Millennium Earl," he said scornfully. "Who cares about being polite?"

"Well, considering that you never think about being polite, I think it's safe to say you don't," Allen replied. "He…wanted to talk."

"About what?"

Allen paused, looking away from the other's gaze. "He told me he's on my side," he said finally. "He said that he wants to help me, and that the rest of you are jealous of my abilities as the Incarnation of Death. That I'm too powerful and you're scared of letting me realize that."

Kanda stared at him thoughtfully for a moment before replying. "You know that's a bunch of bullshit," he said bluntly.

"What?"

"Being scared of you is like being scared of a pile of feathers," Kanda scoffed. "I could kill you in an instant if I wanted to, and so could the others."

"I'm well aware of that," Allen said sardonically, thinking of his own diminutive physical side.

"And he's not on your side," the other continued. "That man is a liar, the Father of Lies. You can't take what he says at face value. If you do, you're an even bigger idiot than I thought possible."

"I appreciate your faith in me," Allen said, rolling his eyes.

"I knew he'd try and get you on his side, but I didn't think it'd be this fast," Kanda muttered to himself. He paused for a moment, and then looked up at Allen. "You aren't going to be joining him anytime soon. I won't let you."

"Believe me, I had no plans to," Allen said quickly.

Kanda eyed him suspiciously. "Answering so quickly makes you sound suspicious," he noted quietly. "Are you lying to me?" He sneered then, his face twisting unpleasantly. "I wouldn't advise that if I were you."

"I'm not lying," Allen protested, frowning.

Kanda stared at him for a moment. "Whatever," he said. Abruptly, he stood up and walked out of the room. Confused – was the man leaving? – Allen stood up as well and followed the other Incarnation out into the hallway. But instead of seeing his front door open, Kanda had turned to the right and was climbing the sweeping staircase.

"What are you doing?" Allen asked.

"Che, what does it look like I'm doing?" Kanda threw back over his shoulder.

"Invading my home?" Allen asked sardonically. "Going upstairs to steal my underwear?"

"What the fuck would I do with your underwear?" Kanda asked scathingly.

"I stopped questioning your motives a while ago," Allen said blithely, following Kanda up the stairs. Curiously, the man went to the main bedroom, peered inside momentarily and then withdrew, moving to another doorway. Allen stopped at the top of the stairs, leaning on the railing. Kanda choose a spare bedroom a few doors down from the master suite and walked inside. After several minutes had passed with Kanda still inside, Allen frowned and walked over to the door. To his surprise, Kanda was standing at the open window, looking out at the night sky. "Would you mind telling me what on earth you're doing?"

Kanda didn't look at him. "I'm staying with you now," he said bluntly.

Allen blinked. "What?" he asked slowly.

"I don't trust you," Kanda said shortly, turning around. "So I am going to be staying here with you until I find you trustworthy."

"That's awful imposing of you," Allen noted.

"Are you saying no?" Kanda challenged, raising an eyebrow.

Allen thought about it for a moment. He didn't really want Kanda living with him – he was sure to get a fair share more verbal abuse than normal, perhaps even some physical. He wouldn't put it past the volatile man. On the other hand, if he did say no, Kanda was likely to ignore him and make himself at home anyways. So he really had no option.

He rolled his eyes and Kanda smirked.

"I didn't think so."

* * *

"He came to visit you?" Lavi asked incredulously, pushing aside his drink.

Allen wiped his mouth carefully with a napkin. "I believe that's what I said, yes," he replied.

"But why?"

"Isn't that obvious?" Allen asked. "He tried to convince me that I should switch sides."

"But ya didn't, right?"

"Of course not!" Allen frowned, scandalized. "Do you think I lack morals altogether?"

"No, that's Yuu-chan," Lavi said thoughtfully.

"Anyways, now Kanda's taken it upon himself to move in with me and make sure that I don't do anything bad," Allen said, rolling his eyes.

Lavi blinked, and then burst out laughing.

"I really don't see what's so funny about this, Lavi," Allen said, huffing. "This is awful."

"Oh, come on!" Lavi crowed, slapping a hand down on the table. "You gotta admit this is hilarious!"

"It's not funny," Allen disagreed, frowning. "This is terrible! He's going to kill me!"

"No, he won't," Lavi said, shaking his head. His laughter had finally died, but there was still a twinkle of mirth in his emerald eyes. "I told ya, Moyashi-chan, he likes you."

Allen snorted. "Yes, and pigs fly."

Lavi stared at him for a while. "You know, Allen," he said, in a much more serious tone of voice. "You're a lot like him."

"What?" Allen yelped. "Lavi, I am not a thing like him!"

"Oh, really?"

"How am I like that…that thing?"

"Eloquent," Lavi said offhandedly. "But think about it. You're both stubborn as hell."

"That…is just an unfortunate character similarity," Allen said, sniffing.

"And neither of you talk a bunch about the past."

Allen blinked. "You've never asked," he pointed out.

"Then I suppose I might as well," Lavi said, smirking. "Why'd ya kill your father?"

Allen froze. How…how did Lavi know about that? That was something he had carefully worked his life around on earth, putting himself in situations where no one could ever figure it out. It was a very carefully maintained secret, his dearest. And here Lavi was, throwing it out there as casually as asking about the weather. "How do you know about that?" he asked quietly, his voice hoarse.

Lavi chuckled. "There ain't no secrets here, Allen," he said gravely.

"But I didn't tell you that!"

"Didn't have to," the red-head replied, leaning back in his chair.

"How do you know, Lavi?" Allen asked, his voice completely serious now.

Lavi stared at him for a moment before replying, as if trying to figure out what precisely to say. "Everyone in the world has a file," he said slowly, "a document of sorts about their life. The PIC has a big room in the back that keeps them all on physical record, but they're also in the computer system. And there's no deleting them or forging one."

"So you read my file," Allen guessed.

"Course I did," Lavi said, grinning. "Didn't know anything about you!" Allen didn't know what to think of that. He didn't like the idea of people knowing everything there was to know about him. He kept secrets for a reason. He purposely remained aloof in most relationships.

"So why'd you do it?" Lavi asked again when Allen said nothing.

Allen looked up at him. He couldn't tell Lavi the truth. He could never tell anyone the truth. They didn't understand; each of the few people he had told had never been able to understand. They had never been through something so traumatic. They didn't get it.

"Allen?"

Lavi calling him by his real name caught his attention. "I…you wouldn't understand," Allen said, standing up suddenly.

"Try me," Lavi said, smirking. He leaned back in his chair languorously.

"Well, it's a long story," Allen said instead, trying another tactic.

"Got all day."

"Yes, well…I don't." Allen gave his friend a rather forced smile and all but ran out of the room. He heard Lavi call after him, but he didn't pay any attention. If he went back, he would tell. He knew he would. He couldn't trust himself to _not _tell someone like Lavi, who was remarkably persuasive when he wanted to be. Maybe someday he would be able to reveal that particular secret to his friends. Maybe someday they wouldn't judge him.

But that day was not today.

* * *

So yes. The next chapter will be more humorous, haha, I promise :)

Review? Please? :)


End file.
